Book One: Water
by Arisa90
Summary: A Fire Nation Avatar is born, causing the Earth Kingdom to rise up and slay the Fire Nation for what they did them three hundred and fifty years ago. Iona, an eighteen year old girl, must protect her beloved friend at all cost, or all hope is lost.
1. Chapter 1: 350 Years Later

Chapter One: 350 Years Later

_"What?" The dark chocolate boy shouted in disbelief, "What do you mean 'I didn't make it'? I did everything you had asked for, I am better than that son of – ugh! What you do mean the spirits said no? How can they say no, they aren't here. They've never been here, ever, and yet they get to decide who has the honor on becoming the new Avatar?" A table was flipped by the same boy, his fist became inflames out of rage. "I've been training my whole life for this moment and now I will never become the Avatar!"_

_Her eyes gazed down, embarrassed to watch the teenager in front of her take his rage out on the Fire Lord Odo, who held his head high to boy. "Xathus, I know you are upset, but you must understand."_

"_Understand what? That your son is the new Avatar, that you told the priest to pick him so he can go on his 'little' quest to restore the Nations once more." He threw up air quotes before he had fist down beside him without flames against his long red pants. "You cheated! I know you did," Xathus left fist rose up in the air, his stiff index finger pointed right at his Lord. "Iona, are you just gonna let this liar make me look like a fool after all our father had done for this man?"_

_Her eyes fluttered upward at her young brother, their green eyes locked for a good five seconds before the young female teenager rose up from the pillow she had been sitting on. "Pardon my twin brother, Lord Odo," Iona bowed forward in respect. Her brother's jaw opened, feeling betrayed and hatred towards his older sister. "You know he isn't usually like this, so I ask that you would not punish him for his uncontrolled behavior."_

"_I cannot believe this! You—of all people, I thought you were on my side." Xathus, about the same height, five' five inches, his black hair was pulled back up in an adorable bun with a golden flame headpiece against his bun. The golden flame only had one stroke, instead of three like the prince has. He was dressed in black and red Fire Nation clothing, tight sleeveless shirt with tight red and black stripes pants tucked in by his high shin guards, that were also mixed in with black and red and his shoes were over his pants. "I thought you were my friend," Those bitter words hit Iona hard, feeling like she had just lost someone close to her, someone she trusted and believed in._

_Her eyes never gazed upon him, but up at Lord Odo with a burning sensation lurking to drain her cheeks with a salty taste. She swallowed the hurting pain within her and before she could speak up, Lord Odo did. "Iona darling," His voice was so tender, releasing all the stress that had built within her chest. "I have a favor to ask you, it's very important." The dark chocolate girl focused on her Lord, curious and eager to hear his words. "I know your family has been kind to us over the years and your friendship with us has been truly a delight, now, I have a mission for you. You and you alone with do this. I want you to protect my son on his journey. As you know, the Earth Kingdom hasn't been pleasant to us since he was born, and I believe you will guide him on the way back. You are the only person I can trust to do this job. Can I count on you?"_

* * *

><p>"Iona hey, Iona, are you all there?" An eager familiar voice caught the girl's attention, her face turning towards the teenager boy who stood right in front of the raising sun. "Jeez, you were spacing hard." The boy commented before his cheesy smile broke a pink streak against her cheeks.<p>

"Sorry, Darold," Iona replied, rising up from a gray rock she was sitting on. "I just got distracted, that's all. Did you pack up?" She asked him before she picked her backpack that sat beside her. Raising it over her shoulder before she glanced over at the lushes' landscape that sat there in the crack of dawn.

"Yeah yeah, come on! We better get moving." Both of their eyes gazed over at the Black Cliffs, still inside the Fire Nation territory.

They have been walking for days now, ever since Lord Odo had asked her to travel along his son's side, Daronld. She didn't want to fail her Lord, nor did she want to be apart from her childhood friend, Darold.

* * *

><p>It has been over 350 years since Avatar Aang successed in complete learning all four elements, defeating the Fire Nation and restoring peace to the world once more. In fact, until Aang's death, it was quiet peaceful until he passed away to the spirit world, that's where it all started, about 250 years back. Since Aang, there has been two Avatar before the Fire Avatar came through. The Earth Kingdom were still in raged what the Fire Nation has done to its people, its land, they started rumor riots, charged against Fire Nation Capitol, however they didn't start killing anyone until Lord Odo became the new Lord of the Fire Nation. That's when life, here in the Fire Nation walls became difficult, it was like the Earth Kingdom decided to start a war, with the Fire Nation, wanting to kill every like one of them and anyone who agrees that they should still be living. When Daronld was born into the Royal family, that's when everything changed. The Earth Kingdom knew that the Fire Nation would have the Avatar next, and they had guessed it would have been Lord Odo's son. So they hunted for him, try to kill him whenever they could, but since they could never get passed the gate, they waited and planned to kill anyone of his family who journeyed out of the Fire Nation.<p>

To top it all off, bending has become a thing of the past. Most people have lost the ancient scrolls of our people and have given everyone a cheap ability to bend. The Earth Nation thought it would be difficult for the Avatar to complete his mission if everyone had a piece of glove on their wrist. The glove allows them to use their Nations or Kingdom's ability. The more it became popular, the more industry the whole world became. Cars were finally invented alongside of a television set, however, most people didn't know about this. The Earth Kingdom kept everything to themselves, expect for their Kingdom Gloves, that's what they called it.

Finding a master to teach Darold has become difficult but not impossible, and Iona won't stop until he is done with his mission.

Darold (DARE uld), a master in fire bending and Prince of the Fire Nation, the Avatar was born a year older than Iona. His smooth white skin never seemed to crack nor get darker as he stood in the sunlight. His golden brown eyes seemed glance around the earth. He was dressed in normal Fire Nation clothing, hoping to bend in. He wore faded red and black vest over his torso and wore ripped-knee-length faded red pants and his borrowed black shoes. His black curly black hair lay just a little bit below his ears, his bangs flipped just above his left thick eyebrow. The buff Avatar smiled at Iona, "So how far do you think we'll get today?" Darold and Iona have been friends since they could remember. Her father helped Lord Odo during his childhood, and in return, he helped her father become part of the Royal family. "Do you think we'll be Fire Fountain City?"

Iona's black eyebrows folded against her dark chocolate skin, "Do you think you can walk that far? Please, I know my grandma could walk faster than you." She held her backpack straps and a pleasant smile against her face.

"Aw come on! I'm not that slow, see?" He pointed at his muscles on his upper arm, "Do you think someone could slow me down?"

"Yeah, I know someone who can."

"Who?"

"Me!" Iona had dropped the backpack and tackled Daronld down to the ground. Laughter was spilled in the sweet morning air as they tumbled around each other.

Iona (eye OWN ah), the oldest twin, fire bender, fighter, and guardian over the Avatar, is quiet beautiful. She has dark chocolate skin that seems to brighten the sun each time she's out. Her green eyes always seem nice. She is least five 'five inches tall, weighs about a hundred and twenty five pounds, which is bad for her. She has long curly black hair that she usually throws it up into a ponytail with a golden ribbon tied around it. The girl wears red and golden tube top with a matching short skirt with black knee leggings. She also wears one golden cuff bracelet around her right wrist and a golden charm anklet against her left ankle. Lastly, she has short ankle boots with the colors black red.

Once the fighting deceased, they gathered up they belongs and kept walking close to the cliffs. The sweet morning breeze welcomed the traveling group with breezy kisses, and lifted Iona's smile. It's been rough for her ever since they discovered who'd be the Avatar. It had been a week ago when her brother…

"So what do you think I should do first, learn Water, Air, or Earth?" Darold asked out-loud, his chocolate eyes gazing upon Iona, "I mean, it shouldn't be too hard right?"

The adorable Iona glanced up at Daronld, who was least five 'seven inches tall. "Well, I thought the plan was to leave the Earth Kingdom last, but Water wouldn't be half bad would it?"

"You want me to learn Water?" Surprise and unsure, he kept talking, "I'm not sure I'll be able to last down there. It's so cold and everything is like…" Iona stopped paying attention to Daronld. It wasn't his fault she had been spacing out, trying to remember every little detail about what had happened a week ago to this very day. The day they had discovered who'd be the Avatar, it certainly wasn't her brother of course, but the memory still haunted her.

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><p>"<em>Yes." Her timid confident voice echoed through the halls of the Fire Nation Palace. Lord Odo seemed pleased with her decision and even smiled at her, "I would be honored to travel alongside the Avatar, you son. I will protect him until I breathe my last breath, I will not give up. I can promise you that, my Lord."<em>

"_What?" Xathus uttered under his breath._

"_Very well," Lord Odo spoke with a cheery tone to his laughter and smile, "I knew I could count on you, Iona. Now, you must pack and—" _

"_Traitor!" A fist came slamming down against Iona's left cheek, causing her to be thrown a yard away from her spot in front of the Lord. "I thought I could have trusted you!" Xathus raged on as flames came out his hands, "I never thought I'd have to do this to my own sister, but you must die!" Flames came rolling out towards Iona, her back turned against it._

"_Stop this childish behavior, Xathus," Lord Odo spoke up, getting out of his royal seat. "Do not be angered by your sister's decision, she's old enough to choice for herself. She doesn't need someone like you, telling her what to do. After all, you are both eighteen years old, you have your own life to fend for." Lord Odo took off his cap, revealing his red and golden armor beneath it. He looked like he was about to fight her brother._

"_It doesn't matter anymore," Xathus hissed between his teeth, his hands balled into fist, ready to strike at Lord Odo, "She isn't my sister anymore. If she really was, she'd agree me with. She always has." The words seemed to hurt Xathus and Iona both, causing tears to drip down Iona's face and touch the marble black floor. "Now, she's worthless to me!" A fire burst through his right hand, aiming towards Lord Odo, however the tall man moved off to the side before charge at Xathus. "Wh-what?" Puzzled by what just happened, a fist knocked Xathus down to the ground. The marble floor beneath them was cracked, broken from where Xathus's face destroyed it._

_Xathus cried out in pain, holding onto his face as Iona slowly rose up, staring at me. "Please don't hurt me, Lord Odo!" She cried out, "You know he doesn't deserve this, any of this."_

_Lord Odo glanced back in the corner of his left eyeball, seeing Iona, "…If that's what you want." Spoken like a true friend. Lord Odo dropped his fist, snapping his finger together before a few Fire Nation guards rushed to his side, "Take him away. Keep him locked up until he learns to respect his family and me."_

_Both guards did what they were told, cuffing Xathus before pulling him up and off of the guard. He cried out when he could, "I will find you, Iona! You haven't seen the last of me. I will kill you and your little boyfriend when I see you again. I hate you. Why won't you just die? Mother would be proud of you."_

* * *

><p>Bitter sweet tears tried to escape out of her eyelids as Darold kept talking on and on, "… I bet you're right. We should go to one of the Poles. They should know how to teach me, right?"<p>

Iona's eyelids fluttered a few times before looking up at the Avatar, "Uh? I'm not really sure. They might teach us, or kick us out because we're from the Fire Nation."

A frown fell upon Darold's handsome face, "You're probably right… Let's not give up now!" A smile shined on his face as he jumped into the air.

"Right." Iona agreed as she followed Darold down a long stepped hill, feeling her feet wanting to go faster than her body really wanted too. Both of their eyes watched Koala Sheep, wander ahead of them. They were beautiful Koala Sheep with white fur and charming black faces. Darold kept chasing them, yelling at them that he was going to cut them up. Iona kept smiling, happy to see Darold in such a lovely mood. "Stop that Darold, you are going to get yourself hurt if you keep messing with the Koala Sheep." Iona shouted out from a distances with a laughter still leaking from her lips.

"Don't worry about it! I've got everything under control—" Darold tripped, falling down against the floor of meadow. His body clasped, causing the Koala Sheep to disburse.

"Darold!" Iona rushed towards his side, dropping her backpack half way through before she took a knelt beside him. "Hey, Darold, talk to me, are you alright?" She shook the Avatar's back before rolling him around, seeing his beloved face.

"Ow. What did I land on?" Darold whispered, his eyes barely opening up to her, but enough to see she was in front on him.

Iona's green eyes trailed around, in search of the object he fell on. "I'm not really sure…" Her eyes glanced only a few feet away before she found it. She bent down before she picked it up. "I found it…"

Darold slowly rose up, getting back onto his feet. "Great, what is it?" He dusted off the dirt on his knees. His face glanced up at Iona, who seemed to not be respond. "Iona, what is it?" Curious, he left his backpack where he had fallen before walking least a good two feet towards the beautiful girl, glancing over her shoulder. "Why can't you tell me—Oh." The words seemed to cause him to hush up.

What Iona held in her hands weren't heavy nor too light. It was metal, rusted metal that chipped off red and black. It was a helmet, but not any helmet- it was a Fire Nation guard helmet. The top of the fire helmet had been broken off, it had been here least a few days or so. "Why would there be a Fire Nation helmet all the way out here?" Iona asked before glancing up at Darold, passing the helmet to him.

Darold took the helmet, seeing Iona standing beside him as they look at the helmet. "I'm not sure… It has been here for days, due to the chipping of the paint along the sides here, here, and here." He pointed to inside the helmet, outside along the sides, and of course where the flame of the helmet was. "I don't think we are safe here. We better keep moving." Iona agreed, gathering up their belongs, but as they picked up their bags, a few strangers popped out of the forest beside the cliffs.

"Ah!" They screamed out at Darold and Iona, "We've been waiting for you two to come along and here you are, in the flesh." Faded red and black clothes were on all three men that had ambushed the two. "You are now our prisoners, you have to listen to everything we say or you'll be punished."

Iona blinked a few times before speaking out, "I'm sorry to interrupt you but we aren't prisoners, you haven't even captured us yet."

The leader with black hair and a few gray streaks in his ruffed bad haircut glanced over at his friends, seeming to be as puzzled as the two teenagers were. "Pretty's one right," He paused before pulling out his long iron blade, point it in-between Iona and Darold, "Get them!" the other two had gloves on their hands, lifting fire from their fingertips, and even shot some at the two.

Flips and turns, dodging the fireballs that seem to keep coming towards them, the two men went after Iona and the big boss went after the Avatar. Iona's foot flew in the air, twisting her body around as she kicked one of the man in his late twenties in the jaw, seeing drool flying out everywhere. "Take that!" She said before the other man came charging at her with flames in his hands. She dodges it before pulling his hand away from his body and kneed him in the stomach. Within seconds, both men were knocked out, even tried getting up, Iona stepped on their fingertips. Cries were shouted out as the men tossed on the grassland. Iona glanced up, seeing that Darold, the Avatar, was still fighting the older man in his late forties. The sword slashes side to side, nearly cutting some of Darold's body parts. Iona shook her head, "Do I have to do everything?" She sighed before she charged at the leader of the ambushed. As she ran, she had enough speed to jump on the man's back, her legs wrapped around his belly and her hands were wrapped around his arms.

"W-w-what the?" The leader became puzzled.

"Now!" Iona shouted out as Darold punched the leader in the gut, just a little above Iona's tangled feet. Again and again, Darold pushed the poor man only four times before he clasped forward.

Iona was back on her feet, glancing over at Darold who seemed to be out of breath, "Well that was an odd encounter."

"Agreed, hey, they wearing Kingdom Gloves, look." He pointed at the other men that Iona had taken out. "We better burn them before they wake up."

"Yeah," Iona said before her and Darold rushed over towards the other two men's side, taking off their gloves and with their fire powers, they burned all four gloves into ash. "Cool, now let's go."

Without even staying for another minute, both teenagers and eighteen, they ran without look back. If they left something, too bad, they would have to keep going forward now. They were being hunted.

* * *

><p>By the afternoon, they had reached a small town, actually, it was a ghost town. Each house had been broken in some point, not one soul nearby. "Jeez, you want to stop here?" Darold asked Iona as chills when down his back.<p>

Iona's green eyes glanced around, seeing how the broken windows, doors creaked and howled at each other, she only smiled at Darold. "This place is perfect for hiding out. If those punk come back to ambush us, they won't think we'll be here. I mean, come on, you saw how stupid they were."

Darold nodded in agreement, "Yeah, ok, you're right, again. Promise me this, when it gets nighttime, don't leave my side. I hate creepy places!" The Avatar shivered in his boots as Iona walked forward in the small town.

"I wonder what happened to this town. I don't even remembering this place being on the maps." Iona had walked up to some of the rusted wooden fences, her hand brief touching it.

"Beats me, now can we just find a spot to sleep, I really really don't like this place."

"Darold, stop complaining. I remember you being afraid of haunted places. Don't you remember when we had a haunted down in the Fire Nation Capital?" Iona grew up alongside of the Avatar since she could remember, and even through childhood, Darold was afraid of anything haunted.

* * *

><p>"<em>N-no! I don't want to go in there! Iona, please don't make me." Darold, least seven years old, cried out as they stood in front of a long tunnel that supposedly had a haunted temple inside of it. Darold was holding onto a tree to dear life as Iona stood alongside of her twin brother.<em>

"_Quit crying, you are supposed to be the Fire Nation's Prince. You can't cry." Xathus sticked his tongue out at Darold before Iona punched Xathus's arm. "Ow! Hey, Iona, what was that for?"_

_Iona crossed her arms, both of the twins wore their school uniforms, black and red. Girls wore long skirts and boys wore pants that had shin guards and awkward shoes and collared tops. "You could have been least nice to him. He's just a little scared."_

"_But, it's a dare. He has to do it."_

_The child girl rolled her green orbs, "If I'm not mistaken, you are afraid of the-"_

"_Sh! Not out loud!" Xathus interrupted his sister, placing his index finger over his lips, "Please please, don't tell anyone! You promised me that you wouldn't tell anyone."_

"_I will tell everyone if you keep bothering Darold." Iona statement, "Are you clear?"_

_Xathus nodded his head, ashamed of his fears. Iona walked towards Prince Darold, poor boy, he was still crying hard. "No no no! You can't make me Iona! Please don't. No no no!"_

"_Prince Darold," Iona had a pleasant smile across her lips, her hands folded behind her back, "You don't have to go alone in the cave. I'll go with you, we could hold hands so either one of us gets lost."_

_Darold didn't like that still, but he knew he had to complete the dare or he'll be a laughing stalk when he goes back to school the very next day. He sniffed up the snot that had been hanging out of his nostril, "Ok. Just this one time and I swear I won't do any more dares ever again!"_

"_Right." Iona agreed, holding his hand. Their cute little hands fit each other and sparked something in Iona's heart. It was something she had never felt before. It was a warm tinkling sensation that burned her soul and overflowed in happiness as they both walked into the haunted cave in the middle of the night. It started a crush that would build over the years._

* * *

><p><em>Why do I keep having all these flashbacks?<em> Iona felt confused, yet enjoyed that longing memory that never haunted her. She shook her head before walking deeper into the empty town, seeing that the water still worked. Her eyes glanced around, "What?" She uttered to herself.

"What's wrong?" Darold asked her, watching Iona bend down and pulling the small wheel around and water poured out of the water faucet.

"If this town was going to be empty, they would have stopped the water a long time ago, expect," She paused, cupping her hand and slipping it under the running water. It was chilled her skin, but when it was over filling her hand, she pulled it out and raised it to her lips. Tasting the water, it seemed to awake her body, feeling the cooling touch go down her throat and into her belly. "It's fresh water." She dropped the rest of the water and turned it off.

"What does that mean? You think there's-"

"Yes, this isn't a ghost town. This is another-" Iona couldn't finish her statement. In fact, both teenagers were hit with cubs on the back of their heads, knocking them both out.

An unusually man stood above them, "That's right kiddies, this is an ambush."

**AN:** Phew. What a chapter, I hope you enjoyed it. I have planned to make this my own Avatar story, because, it's not like I don't like the original, but that was perfect just the way it was. I am going to make my own story, own crazy plot. If you don't understand something, let me know and I will edit this chapter. Iona and Darold our my characters, I hoped you enjoy them. Please review, I want to get better, but I need your help! Thanks for reading!


	2. Chapter 2: Common Traitor

Chapter Two: Common Traitor

The vague voices rung in the air, the vision seemed to dizzy, and her body felt drained. Her eyes slowly opened only able to see an unfocused man in front of her, coming in several different shapes and sizes. The man in front of her stood tall, shirtless, and his bulky black curls laid just above his earlobes. His hands were behind his back, and darkness stood behind him. _Ugh, my head._ Iona reached for the back of her messed up ponytail, only to stumble upon that her hands were in shackles. "What the?" She uttered softly to herself, her green eyes glancing over her shoulders. Her hands were spread far apart, away from her body. Panic rose inside of her body, however, there were far worse things to worry about than being in… whatever this place was.

Darold _wasn't_ here.

"Ah, our beloved guest has woken." His rough fingers touched the tip of her chin, pulling her head up to face the man. He seemed pleasant, and even had good manners. This was strange for some Fire Nation rebels. "Now, can you tell me who you are?" Iona held her tongue, her graceful green eyes turned to stone within seconds. "No? What a pity. You are so… beautiful at such a young age." His hands moved up, stroking her cheek. "Well, I guess have no choice but to kill you. Too bad, really, your friend didn't stand a chance. We killed him a few hours back, I hope you didn't mind." Her body became dry. The life that had once held a loving Fire Nation girl had become the undead.

"W-what? You can't be ser-serious?" Iona's words seemed to struggle to come out. Her tongue became twisted, her palms became sweaty and her eyeballs began to boil. Her green stone orbs melted into sorrow, gazing upon the other man in the room. It turned out, the men that attempted to ambush them early, stood behind the muscular shirtless man with bumps and bruises all over their boney bodies.

"Oh?" The leader let his hand slip away from Iona's body, "That's interesting." He paused before a smirk grew on his face, "So, tell me darling, did you forget to tell that boy something? It's a little too late now, he's being burned as we speak. I hope you don't mind, he wasn't that important anyway."

_No. This can't be right. H-have I failed my mission, just like that?_ Iona dropped her head as her mind began to race, _So all that pain I caused my brother and the promise I made to Lord Odo, was it all for nothing? No, this can't be happening. _She slowly glanced up at the man. "Who are you?"

"That's a bit of a mystery, isn't it? Who are we? Well I'm glad you asked, we are-Cloudis!" The leader clapped his hands, "Lights!" Within seconds, hands were raised in the air and flames bursted outward onto torches, lighting the room. "Now, where were we? Ah, yes. I remember, we are called-"

"Red Demons," Scoffed Iona as she got a good long look at the man that stood in front of her. Most of them wore faded red and black peasant suits with several patches and holes in them. They didn't look like they've bathed in weeks, and they had placed her in a dungeon beneath the town above them. "You were once Fire Nation soldiers, however, since we went to war with the Earth Kingdom a few hundred years back, you became traitors to your own country, in search of the Avatar so you can kill him off and end the war for good." Her green eyes locked with the leader of the group, seeing the look of surprise against his pasty skin.

However, the leader released laughter into the air and his crew chimed in, "Wow! You know you're stuff, kid! I like you already, tell you what, why don't you join the crew! Fight for the Earth Kingdom and take down the Avatar!" A loud cheer echoed in the bricked walls, and confusion clouded Iona's mind.

_They don't know that Darold is… Oh. So that means he's still alive. Phew._ Iona was relieved, letting out a soft sigh before responding to the leader, "I'm sorry. I'm on a tight schedule, you see, friend and I are trying to get to the Fire Fountain City… We have to find _his_ missing sister." Iona lied through her teeth. The African American girl prayed that they wouldn't see right through her. She was never good at lying, even as a child. She would often rush through her sentences, repeat a lot, and worst of all, stutter. If there was one person who could lie the best, it was Xathus.

"No? Well, least I tried, right? That's all the matters… Oh," His right fist slapped down into his left opened palm, he must've had an epiphany. "I forgot to tell you, but, I believe your friend confessed for you. He told me that you were the Avatar, so how can I believe you when you are running off to Fire Fountain City? I'm sure you're trying to learn rest the of those stupid elements. Do you think I'm that stupid?"

"Yes." Iona responded with a grin on her face. A hand flew in her face, smacking her right across the face. Her face glanced down at the ground, feeling her left cheek throbbing harder than before. First her brother punches her cheek and now the leader of the Red Demons, what's next? Torture?

"Don't get sassy with me, missy. I'm tired of playing games. You better start talking, tell me who you are!" The leader of the Red Demon screamed in Iona's face, spilt flying into her face. Only his voice echoed through the deep ditch dungeon, "No?" He paused before turning his body around, "If you aren't going to speak, Avatar, then maybe a whole night in here will jog your memory up." With two finger snaps, all the guards were gone along with the light. Iona was once more alone in an unknown place, being accused to be the Avatar, she smiled.

"Darold… I am going to hurt you when I get out."

* * *

><p>"Let me go!" Darold shouted at the Red Demon gang who sat around the fire, warming up and cooking some kind of pork. "I've done nothing wrong but maybe broke a sacred statue. Please don't tell anyone!" The Avatar confessed, his eyes closed shut and waited for a responds.<p>

"No one cares that you broke a freakin' sacred statue." A man said bitterly before walking over towards him. He was the man from early, who had attempted ambushing them, however, they failed.

"What are you going to do _with_ me?" Darold whimpered, "Please oh, please, don't kill me! I'm only eighteen for goodness sake, I haven't even kissed a girl yet! I have a great life ahead of me, plea—"

"Shut up!" A foot was shoved into the Avatar's face, causing him to fall back against his back, groaning in pain. "Now, next time you speak out-loud, I swear, I will hurt your-"

"Cloudis," An unfamiliar voice spoke out, "Stop abusing our guest and go play guard. It's your turn." The man named Cloudis, old with streaks of white in his black hair whimpered, trying to get some words out but a young boy snapped back at him, "Don't make me say it twice, now get to it." Without any extra words, the man named Cloudis dashed off, past the fire and rushed back to the ghost town.

Darold's chocolate eyes gazed around, noticing everything now. He wasn't inside the ghost at all, no, he was on the edge of the forest, eyes watching any movement through the town. The green lush seemed deadly at night, one wrong move and nature would swallow you whole. Pushing himself up from the guard, his body began to tinkle in fear. He really didn't like nature all too much. He gulped before his eyes flashed over to all of the men… _Where's Iona?_ Anger began to build within his heart, they've taken Iona, but why? "Where is she?" Silence had fallen over the Red Demon gang, all eyes peering over at the young boy, hands tied up behind his back. "I will ask you again, where is she? What have you done to her?" The silly dorky Darold had disappeared and his true colors were showing. He grew up with Iona all of his life, he always felt very overly protective of her because-

The young boy from early, who sent Cloudis away, walked up to him, "You mean the Avatar?" The boy who stood in front of Darold was least nineteen years old, bout five' nine inches tall, very fit to the bone. His light shaggy brown hair covered his head and he had blue eyes that seemed to glow in the darkness. One thing stood out from the poor boy, there were scars across his left cheek. Lines going straight across, some were jagged, but there were only three lines, one underneath his eye, one that crossed all the way over to his left ear to his cheek, and one that was above his lip.

"Avatar?" Darold became puzzled, yet, distracted by the boy's scars. How could someone so young have several scars.

"Yeah, Cloudis thought you were the Avatar when he attacked you guys, but he said the girl took all three of them out in a flash. Heh. It's funny right, we'd never thought the Avatar would become a girl again, could we?" The boy laughed before he knelt down in front of the Avatar, "I'm Kierce (keerss)." Darold didn't respond to Kierce's friendliness, the Avatar was more concern for Iona. Kierce's smile faded, "Still upset, uh? If you want, I can tell you that the girl is fine. I mean, she's more than just fine, but I don't have to tell you that!" Kierce burst into a sparkling smile as his cheeks turned red, "I don't understand how you haven't… You aren't dating her are you?"

Darold's black eyebrows folded down against his eyes, "No, why would I do that? We're just friends."

Kierce smiled, "Great!" He patted Darold in the back, "That's the best news I've had all day! Well, if you don't mind, I'm gonna check up on that chocolate goddess. It was nice meet you." The nice boy, Kierce did exactly what he said he was going to do. He was going to leave Darold alone with the rest of the Red Demon crew as he checked out Iona.

_Whatever, _Darold rolled his eyes as he let his mind run lose, his eyes watching the fake Fire Nation men eat their pork, whatever that was. _You're not even her type._

* * *

><p>Aroused by the loud annoying growl that kept bothering her as she stood there in chains, "Shut up!" She told her stomach for the third time. Iona hadn't eaten anything since breakfast, because when it came lunch time, the girl didn't feel like it. Now, she wished she had least eaten an apple or so. She sighed, feeling her black hair falling down in front her face now, how many hours has it been? To Iona, it had felt like she been inside the dungeon for several hours, however, she assumed it had only been one hour at most.<p>

Voices caught her attention from the door in front of her, "…I won't be long, I promise." She blinked a few times before the heavy metal door was pulled out and light revealed the voices. There was one guard on the outside and now one on the inside. He was interesting, several scars against his left cheek, beautiful blue eyes, and was taller than Darold. "Well good morning, Avatar," He held a torch in his hand as he bowed, politely to Iona. "How you are this fine morning? I hope good, well, it shouldn't be too long before the boss comes back around. So—" Once more, her stomach growled louder than before, catching both of the teenagers' attention, "Ah, you're hungry! Don't worry, I brought you some food, just hold on a second." The interesting teenager placed the torch up on metal cup, seeing that it held the torch and the light in the room. He tossed a small backpack off of his shoulders and opened it up. Fresh smell of strawberries caught Iona's attention and her stomach seemed to agree with her as it cried out once more. The girl watched the boy raise up from the dirty floor with a hand full of strawberries in his hand, "Here, open wide." At first, Iona didn't, but he nudged them close to her face and she opened her mouth. The taste of sweet and bitterness seemed to overflow her body with happiness. "Isn't that better?" The girl nodded as she kept nibbling the strawberry in front of her.

The kept on feeding her until he was out of strawberries, it wasn't filling for Iona, but it least she had something to eat. Once she could speak, she actually spoke out, "Why are you being so nice to me?" She questioned the boy's action while her eyelids fluttered a bit.

The boy seemed to light up, putting on a smile on his face and facing Iona, "Oh good, I thought for a minute there that you couldn't speak. That would kill me, ha ha. Well, I don't know… That's a good question though, why am I being nice? Well, you see… I've never seen anyone as beautiful as you. You have the most beautiful skin, adorable green eyes, and lushes black hair. You're perfect." He whispered before his fingers ran through her hand, "I just thought maybe… If I could help you, maybe you could do me a favor, Avatar."

Iona didn't know how to respond. It's been awhile since someone had tried to sweet talk her, or least compliments her with kind words. What was she supposed to say, thank you? He could have been a total creep for all she knew, but something told her those scars against his face meant he had been through several years in pain. "Help me escape." The girl to a chance of dumb luck, but the boy nodded his head as he went to each side of Iona's hands, unlocking the chains.

"No problem," He said with a smile against his face, "I'm Kierce by the way."

"I'm Iona." As Kierce finished releasing her hands from those ungodly chains, she touched both of her wrists, feeling the throbbing pain being released. Kierce released the chains that were around her ankles and smiled as he walked around.

"It's a pleasure to put a name to that lovely face of yours." He took her hand and kissed it. Kierce let go of her hand, throwing on his backpack once more, "Now what's the plan?"

"Well, you might not like it but…"Iona revealed a simple plan that would make the guard unlock the door. It would be painful for Kierce, but least they'd get out and she could save the Avatar.

* * *

><p>Sorrow filled his eyes as Darold sat there, watching the Red Demon members taunt him with food and disturbing question he'd never repeat. His eyes kept drifting off to where Kierce had trailed, <em>Maybe Iona is over there… Man! I wish I didn't felt useless. Wait, I'm the Avatar, I can just fire bend out. Jeez, why didn't I think of that earlier…? Oh, that's right. They have Iona.<em> A frown peeled over his lips, chocolate brown eyes glancing down at the molded grass that had his butt shape memorized. _If they didn't have her hosted, I'd whip out my fire bending skills and show them how awesome I am! Oh yeah! No one can master these bad skills! _ Darold's smiled boldly, his inspiration appeared in his eyes once more as he gazed up at the members, who danced around the fire like morons.

Cloudis, the man they had met earlier, returned to the camp site, "What are you doing?" His voice broke the drunken happiness, "You wild dogs will ruin everything we've worked for. If the Boss finds out that you are fooling around, he'll have all of our heads." He gestured as he placed his left index finger over his neck and slid it across.

"We're just messing around, Cloudis. Just relax." One of the chubby members responded, and a few others chimed in agreement.

"Oh, who made you the second-man? What's that, oh that's right, I'm his left hand. So shut the-Where's Kierce?" His eyes dragged around, not seeing that scarred boy in sight. "Has anyone seen him?"

"He left to check up on the Avatar." Another man responded.

"W-what?" Fear ran down Cloudis' back, "That's bad, how long has he been down there?"

There was no time to answer, by the time Cloudis had asked that question, a shivering scream echoed through the whole forest. Tingles were shivering down all of their spines, "What was that?" Darold asked out-loud. No one seemed to answer the real Avatar before another painful cry was released.

"Oh no… She's out." Cloudis voice fade away, disappearing with the wind. He glanced around at the crew beside him, "Well, we should get going. She will kill us all."

"What?" The chubby one, hairy to the bone, spoke up once more, his deep voice just chuckled, "She can't kill us. She's the Avatar, they can't kill us. I mean, come on, look at Aang. Beside, the boss can take her down-"

"The boss isn't here. He disappeared little over an hour ago." Cloudis responded in a whisper.

"W-what? What do you mean? Did he just leave us out here to... die?"

Cloudis nodded his head, "This is our chance to run out while we still have one. Come on!" He waved on his friends, however none of them seemed to move. Instead, they were all staring behind Cloudis with horror look in their eyes. "What?" The man turned around and saw Iona there with an angered expression against her pretty face. "N-n-no! This can't be possible! How did you—"

"I tricked the boy who had scars against his face. Sweet thing, too bad he's dead." Flames flared up against her fingertips, "It's a shame really, he was a cutie. Well, I guess you all have the same fate as he did, was. Whatever, I'm here to take my friend back, and you will give him back." Iona glanced over at Darold, winking at him, giving him the OK.

Darold nodded his head before he burned the rope off of his chaffed wrists and jumped on. "Jeez, would it kill ya to move your prisoners around a bit? My bum is killing me!" The boy scratched his backside for a bit before he became serious once more.

"Get them!" Cloudis shouted and before they knew it, it had become another battle scene. All the men wore Kingdom Gloves with the red symbol written across the glove: Fire. Flames were shot out in each direction as the Avatar's team blocked most of the attack before striking.

Iona was taking out five at time, one by one, came up and attacked her, however, she dodged it somehow before striking them, knocking them out. Her eyes glanced to the corner and noticed another man coming towards her, and striking them at will. This went on as flames kept coming at her, however, she'd catch a few and return the attack.

Poor Darold, he was only taking out two men, or least attempting too. Sometimes, he'd throw a punch, but would feel the pain throbbing at his knuckles, cry a bit before realizing that he was about to get jumped. A man did jump him by falling onto of him, almost knocking the wind out of Darold. "Gah. I-I-Iona… a little help," The Avatar tried calling out his friend, however, he hardly had a voice loud enough to reach her, seeing each Red Demon member, striking her, attacking her. _Why am I such a weakling?_ Those were the last thoughts he thought before every object in sight became blurry.

A light flame brushed over Darold's body, causing the man on top to get off and the other one to panic, "K-Kierce? You're alive!" Eyes turned to see the young scarred boy still alive, and still looking good. Not a scratch against his pretty face, expect there was a grin that seemed a little too pleasant to be on his face.

"Aw, don't tell me you missed me? Psh. I could never stay in this lot. I mean, really? The Avatar is gonna save the world, not us. Why are you still here, fighting? Go home. There is no point in doing this anymore. Look around you, where's your boss? Where is your faithful leader now? Answer me this, or do you still believe Cloudis? That fool doesn't even know what he's doing anymore!" His index finger stretched outward, pointing right at Cloudis.

Questions were being raised, and anger and sorrow seemed to fill their minds. Before they knew it, they dropped their fist, they looked at each other and knew exactly what to do. A few eyes were draw to Cloudis, "W-w-what? I'm just following orders, beside, I can't believe you are following orders from that traitor!" Cloudis shouted outward, however, it seemed like no one cared. The Red Demon packed up their things and returned to their families like they should be. Within the next seven minutes, all the small group of adventurers could hear was Cloudis, whining, trying to make his friends stay.

"Wow." Iona chuckled softly to herself as she walked up to Darold, "That was funny." Darold couldn't believe it, he thought she was a goner. The muscular Avatar wrapped his arms around her, giving Iona a warm hug, "W-what's this for?"

"I thought you were a goner, please don't leave me. I don't know what I would have done without you." The words seemed to melt Iona's heart. She had never heard things from Darold, not like this. Once the hug was over, Kierce came over, wrapping one arm around Iona with a smug expression against his face.

"Aw, you did a great job, sweetie." Kierce smiled before slowly getting closer to her face, "I'm so proud of you." His lips began to pucker up, and Iona flipped out. She grabbed the hand that was around her shoulders, pulled it forward, and the next thing she knew, Kierce was flat on the ground, his back against the ground. "Ow." He uttered to himself.

"Touch me again, call me sweetie, and if you ever try to kiss me, I swear, I will hurt you far more worse than that self-defense move." Iona walked away from Darold, laughing at Kierce, and gathered up their bags.

"Dude, she totally did you!" Darold held his stomach from laughing so hard.

"Shut up!" Kierce blushed as he lifted his back off of the ground, his hand rubbed the bottom of his nose before getting up and off of the ground. "That was supposed to happen."

"Really? Yeah right."

The boys pushed each other around as they walked back to Iona, gathering their things, and saying their goodbyes. "Thanks for helping us, Kierce." Iona said with a pleasant smile on her face.

"No problem swe-Iona. It was fun! We should do that more often."

"No, not really." Iona spoke straight forward before walking past Kierce.

His jaw dropped as he watched his dark Goddess drifting off in the distances, "I don't how you can stand that dude, she's just-ugh. I don't think I'll ever forget her." His eyes drifted back over to Darold, "Hey, good luck helping her. She's gonna need it."

"What do you mean?" Darold asked, folding his arms against his chest.

"Well, she's the Avatar isn't she? She's one bad apple, and did I mention she's smokin'?"

Darold frowned as he felt sorrow fill his heart. Why did no know think he was the Avatar because he didn't have tattoos all over his body, least not yet, or that the fact he was weak? "I'm sorry, Kierce, you have the wrong person. I am the Avatar, Iona is just a better fighter than I am."

Kierce became surprised, "Oh dude, I am totally sorry. I didn't mean too-"

"No, it's OK." Darold brushed off Kierce without a goodbye and walked passed him, "I get it."

Darold joined Iona, and Kierce waved goodbye in the far distances, "I'll see you guys!" The Avatar and Iona did the same thing, waved goodbye to the Red Demon traitor before turning their backs towards the haunted ghost town and toward the Fire Fountain City.

A sigh escaped Iona's lips as they walked forward, down a long steep hill, "I'm just glad he's gone."

Darold glanced over at Iona with confusion, "Why?" The boy began to wonder what happened while he was away from her.

"He creeps me out, and I mean a lot. Something about him, how he follows me… I don't know. It's kind of weird but-" She didn't want to finish it. She didn't want to say sweet, because sweet doesn't mix well with creepy. She just shook her head, "Forget it. We'll camp once we get away from this place."

"Agreed." Darold nodded his head but something kept bugging him. Did Kierce touch her in a- No he couldn't think like that! Iona could handle herself, she's done it before, and will keep doing it for the rest of her life. There was nothing wrong with that, but maybe, maybe she liked that guy. The scarred blue eyed boy. He did look much more handsome than Darold, even with the scars.

"Hey guys, wait for me!" A familiar voice called out to the group, causing Darold to stop in his place while Iona kept walking on. She already knew who it was. As Darold's chocolate eyes watched Kierce running down the hill, he yelled out, "I forgot! I need to go Fire Fountain City, I need to check up on my Aunt. I hope you don't mind me tagging along." No one said anything, and Kierce frowned, "What? Does no one like me?" He glanced over at Darold who just stared him down, and when he looked over at Iona, he just said her name so innocently, "Iona… please?"

The chocolate eighteen year old stopped in her tracks, and slowly turned around with an unpleasant smile on her face. "Only this one time, just because you helped us out, we'll let you travel with us. Just don't-Don't touch me."

A bright smile grew on Kierce's face, "You got it babe!" He winked over at Darold before he ran right beside Iona and began to chat up a storm with her, asking her all these questions.

Poor Darold, he walked behind, his head hung low as he followed behind the two love bird in front of him. "This is going to be a long trip to the Fire Fountain City." Off the group went, traveling in the dawn of morning with black bags under their eyes. They kept forth, trying to stay awake as long as they could.

* * *

><p>In the distances above the hill that the group had travel down, stood the Red Demon leader, his head held high as he watched the group disappeared into the forest. "Cloudis," Within seconds, Cloudis stood beside his leader, "How did he do?"<p>

Cloudis bowed down to his leader, "Sir?"

"How did my son do?"

"You mean, Kierce, sir?" Cloudis paused as he lifted his body up again, "I believe our mission has been completed. The group has accepted him into the group; it's only a matter of time before he slays the Avatar, Lord Edius."

Edius, leader over the Red Demons, grinned from ear to ear, "Good. Everything is going perfect now. The Avatar assumes the group broke up, and Kierce can destroy them all. Just perfect, the Earth Kingdom will be please when I tell them the good news." Both of the men slowly walked away from the hill, disappearing into the dawn of morning, knowing that the end of the Avatar was near.

**AN**: I adore this chapter because the title is just perfect with this chapter. Kierce betrays the Red Demons, however he will betray Darold and Iona. Oh, how exciting! I'm just glad I'm finally done! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I do. Please review, message me. I need more plots and twists and turns. xD


	3. Chapter 3: The Dreamy Peach Tree

Chapter Three: The Dreamy Peach Tree

Midday dragged on as the group seemed to pulling themselves along. Endlessly walking forward in the amidst of a forest with darker bags under their eyes, it was Iona's idea to get out of the forest before camping. It was a wise decision, however, they were still walking.

"Can we take a break?" Darold pleaded once more, out of breath. His shoulders were slouched over his perfect body and his eyes kept shutting.

Iona turned around, seeing both Kierce and Darold pausing for a simple break, both of them dropped like flies. She only blinked before shaking her head, "No, we just had a break five minutes ago. We're almost there."

Kierce, the newest member to the team, sighed before his charming light blue eyes glanced over at Darold, "Since when did she become the boss?" The shaggy light hair brown slowly rose up from the ground.

"Since forever," Darold commented before he did the same thing, standing back up, dusting off his backside before throwing his heavy backpack over his shoulders, "She has always been like this though. I'm not sure why, but if she doesn't have her way then well, you don't want to be in the same room as her."

"So wait, you're saying she has a temper? Oh, now that's hot." Kierce uttered before he stretched a smile against his lips, causing his three scar marks to stretch out further than his smile did.

An annoying sigh escaped Iona's chocolate lips before she turned out, arms crossed over her tube top torso, "Can we get moving now? I'm sorry if you can't make it through a whole day without sleep, but suck it up and let's keep moving." Frustrated build behind her cheeks, causing them to flush in a red before she picked up the pace.

"Wow. Someone's grouchy." Kierce commented before the group kept forth, walking behind their noble leader, Iona.

The forest was peaceful as it brushed its summer flowers out to shine, its lovely shade to protect the group from burns. The noon fresh air seemed to fill their lungs, animals ran about, watching the group pass through with Darold and Kierce perking up conversations over little things like, what tastes better, salmon fish or some kind of bird. Iona had blocked them out due to Kierce annoying voice. The dark chocolate girl kept her green eyes peeled, making sure no one was spying on them.

As they walked up a hill, an elder, holding a basket of flowers, and wore a woven kimono with Fire Nation colors. They edge of the silk was the red while he's robe was completely black with a splash of gold mixed in. he wore ankle socks and wooden sandals. His white hair was pulled back a bun and the other half touched his shoulder. His bread was only a few inches close to touching his chest, but his warming dark eyes welcomed them with a smile as he waved at them.

Iona glanced over at the man, her eyes pierced him, however, she didn't see any real threat, but that didn't mean she let down her guard as she stopped walking. "What is it?" Darold uttered as he rubbed his face with his right hand. The Avatar didn't even bother to look up, his head started to tilt downward.

"There's a man…" She whispered softly for the group to hear, "He's waving at us."

Kierce perked up once more, lifting his head off of his body and his blue eyes glanced over at the man before the nineteen year old waved at him with his right hand. "Hello good sir!" He shouted outward before Iona elbowed him in the chest. "What? Maybe he's friendly and maybe he's got a place for us to crash."

"So? What if he wants to hurt… you know…" Her eyes rolled over at Darold, who had fallen asleep while standing. Kierce only narrowed his eyes before, then just shook his shaggy hair.

"Eh? What do we have here? You young people are traveling, what is this? A school project?" The man chuckled as he made his walk towards to the group. He didn't have a steady voice nor could he be any louder.

"We're traveling to Fire Fountain City, we have family to check up on and we kind of teamed up." Kierce smiled before he wrapped his arm around Iona, "Oh, this is my girlfriend." His cheeks flamed up as well as Iona before she just crossed her arms over her chest.

"You have three seconds to get your hands off of me…" Iona uttered and Kierce did what he was told.

"Oh my, I've never seen anything like you before. Fascinating." The man glanced over at Iona, looking at her skin color, "But, I can see that you're unhappy though." He frowned and his chocolate eyes locked into her own green eyes, "You haven't been noticed and you try but he seems to never… oh. I'm sorry, I'm rabbling on again, forgive me." He scratched the back of his head with a nervous smile and laughter escaping his lips, "Would you, your boyfriend, and your friend over there," He pointed with his right index finger at Darold, "like to join me for lunch? My house is right up the hill."

Kierce smiled glanced over at Darold who seemed to perk up when the word 'lunch' came out of the elder's mouth. "We'd love too." Before Iona knew it, all of the men had left her behind as she struggled to find any words.

She blinked several times, jaw half opened, "He's _not_ my boyfriend!" She uttered before she followed behind.

* * *

><p>The group had arrived to the elder's house with a surprising expressions on all of their faces. The sight of the house and the garden in the back, the house was small with a two story golden strip on top. The house was a red color with a golden layer outlining each section of the house. The windows were all opened and were painted gold as well. The garden from the front angle was outstanding with bundles of rose bushes and lilies and a picked white fence, blocking anyone from bothering the opening of his house. "Woooow." Darold stretched out his words in amazement, as they entered the front of his house, "How do you do it sir? You must have a lot of free time to garden." The house was a soft tan color with a white frame on the edge of each wall. They unpacked their things at the front as the man just slipped off his shoes and smiled.<p>

"Yes, my wife enjoyed gardening, it was her hobby and I promised her I'd keep doing it for her sake." The man boldly said before facing the group of teenagers, "Now, you're welcome to say, I just need to tell you the ground rules." The boy teenagers nodded their heads and the man just smiled plainly, "Good. My name is Dae-Hyun (deh hyun), it's very nice to meet you. There is no limit of eating, you must not run around naked, ha ha, oh, and upstairs is off limits. Even I do not dare to go up there, ever since my wife, Yoko, passed away. It's hard going up there."

The boys felt for him, expect Dae-Hyun, something about this place felt too perfect for a pit stop. "It's alright, we promise we won't go up there. Right, Kierce?" The scarred boy agreed, and Darold glanced back at Iona and spoke once more, "Right Iona?"

Not really paying attention, she snapped out of daydreaming, "Uh? Yeah, agreed."

"Thank you," Dae-Hyun smiled pleasantly, "You are such kind people, feel free to go wander around, unless you are hungry. The meal should be ready…" With one big inhale, the man nodded his head, "Yes, it's ready now. Come come, let's eat."

The group followed Dae-Hyun into his diner room, sliding the tan sliding door to the side, they entered the royal diner room. The walls were painted green with spaced out flowers all across the wall. The dark wooden table laid before them with several green pillows against the tan carpet beneath their feet. Another nightstand stood there in the corner side the open window with a dark red vase on top. There were words written on it, however Iona couldn't read it from there anyway. She just followed the boys, sitting on the side behind the sliding door, and Kierce pop down beside her, "Ah. Isn't this great? We have more time to bond."

"Good luck with that." Iona rolled her green orbs, watching Darold sit on the other side.

The man disappeared into another room, it must have been the kitchen because you could smell the food leaking into the dining room. Dae-Hyun returned very quickly with a large plate in front of him, "I hope you don't mind some roasted duck alongside with fruit, because that's all I have."

* * *

><p>After the pleasing meal, the group socialized as Iona watched, learning more about Dae-Hyun and Kierce. They seemed to get along great, "…And she chased after that boy until he put back his pants on."<p>

Both of the boys seemed to crack up, wiping their eyes with their back hand. "Wow. You tell some interesting stories." Kierce said, still chuckling.

"And they are all true! Every person who has stayed with has their own quirks, but that one was the most hilarious one so far."

Darold rose his hand up, getting Dae-Hyun's attention, "Is there dessert?"

The elder man laughed, "Of course there is, I'll get it if you take the plates."

Darold agreed and picked up all the plates and followed Dae-Hyun back into the kitchen.

Kierce glanced over at the kitchen and then back at Iona with a concern expression against his face. "Are you alright, Iona? You haven't spoken a word since we started lunch."

"I don't like him." She replied back, "Something about all of this doesn't feel right." Her green eyes locked into Kierce's blue eyes. "Then again, I don't trust people that easily."

"What? You don't trust me!" Kierce placed his hand over his heart as he threw his head upward, "That's very hurtful coming from you."

Iona didn't respond, she just looked at the stupid boy in front over her until Dae-Hyun and Darold returned with their hands holding one slice of a pinkish cake. "I hope you like peach cake." The top had a slice of a yellow peach on top with a folk off to the side.

"What?" Iona spoke up, eyes glancing over at her as the boys sat down placing the peach cake in front of them. "Peace Cakes? I didn't think they were anymore peaches left in the world."

Dae-Hyun was baffled; however, he just smiled ear to ear, "Ah. Yes, isn't it something? My wife stumbled upon a peach tree when she was growing up on one of the Fire Nation islands. She took it back and planted it here so she could sell and eat her own peaches. It's one of the last peach tree in the world, so please eat as much as you want."

The boy teenagers had half way gobbled down their peach cake with crumbles on their faces. Iona slowly chuckled off a piece of the cake before slipping it into her mouth. The tangy taste of the peach tingled her taste buds as she chewed it up. "They are yummy." She spoke with a smile on her face.

"Yeah, they are." Both of the boys said at once.

"I'm pleased you like them." Dae-Hyun smiled and before he ate his own peach cake.

After taking her third bite, the room started to get all fuzzy. Iona didn't know what was going on, but when she looked over at Darold and Kierce, they were almost done with their dessert, yet they looked wide awake. What was going on? As she attempted taking her third bite, her head fell off to the left, causing her body to lean that way as well and the poor girl was out cold.

* * *

><p><em>Loud romantic golden bells rung through her ears, Iona glanced upward and noticed two things, one she was in her home church and two, Darold stood right next to her dressed a black and red robe with his hair all slicked back. How could this possible? "Darold," The dark chocolate girl blushed as she glanced down, seeing that she was in a lovely gold and red dress that extended towards the her bridesmaids, "What's going on?"<em>

_The Avatar took her hands, "Iona," His sweet tendering voice set off several red flags in Iona's brain, "I love you, I've always has. You're my girl, see?" The charming boy rose her hand up to her face, revealing their golden wedding rings against their left hands._

_Iona flushed as dark as her wedding dress, "Oh my gosh. This can't be happening… Can it?" The girl glanced up, only seeing now she wasn't at her wedding anymore. Something kicked her, forcing her to grab her stomach, "Oh oh oh!" Her words stretched out as she realized, she was pregnant. "Honey-" Within seconds, Darold revealed himself, much older than Iona could remember with a funny bread against his chin. "I think my water just broke."_

"_Oh my-What do we do? What do we do?" Darold began to panic like he always does, grabbing his head, running his finger through his black hair. _

_Iona used her free hand to grab his collar and pulled him in, "Take me to a doctor," She pressed her lips against his own two lips and again, everything was different. Darold was wrinkly, a little big larger, and now, he wore glasses? "What happened? Oh my, my voice… it's older." Iona touched her throat and noticed her own wrinkly fingers. She was an elder now?_

"_What are you talking about?" The older Darold spoke, his voice began to shake as he pointed his right index outward, "Our kids grew up, they have their own kids, and now, we just have each other." His arm wrapped around Iona's shoulders, "Ah look, the leaves all falling from the peach tree." The old happy couple glanced upward, in awe as the leaves began to fall with Fall colors blending inward. "Isn't this just perfect?"_

_Iona mind wondered off, not really sure what was going on, "What is?"_

"_Just this, you and me, and Dae-Hyun's peach tree," Darold's words seem to spark Iona's heart. Why was there a peach tree in her dream? Iona eyes glanced upward, seeing Dae-Hyun, still in his old years with a smug grin against his lips._

"_Yo-you!" Iona called out, "What are you doing here?"_

* * *

><p>Iona found herself laying on her right side of her body, a soft blanket covered over her. Her eyes glanced sideways, seeing a tan wall with her belongs against the wall. <em>What happened? Was that all a dream?<em> The girl asked herself that as she rose up, finding herself on a small twin size bed laid against the wall with a squared window already cracked open. The girl leaned over against the window, seeing the grand garden. Dae-Hyun had everything, every plum to watermelons, everything was separated from each other by wood blocks and there was a stone path, allowing easy access to different parts of the garden. Iona eyes glowed when she saw the famous peach tree, waving in the breeze. The peach tree sat higher up, allowing enough shadow and wooden benches to be around it. Feeling too refreshed, the girl brushed the covers off of her body, revealing her Fire Nation clothing and her bare black feet before she got off of the comfortable bed and towards her door. The room she was in was very tiny compared to her room back home. It was least six by six in feet, a perfect square room, however the one back at home, it was much larger, allowing her more space to fill out.

Opening the door, she saw Darold passing through, yawning. "Oh good, you're up. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to sleep all day." The boy ruffled his hair before he smiled, "You had me worried for a second that you were dead or something."

"What are you talking about?" Iona narrowed her black eyebrows against her eyes.

"What? You don't remember…?" Darold questioned before he saw Iona shaking her head. "Oh. Well, we were all eating our peach cake and suddenly you passed out. You gave Kierce a heart-attack though, and soon after we put you into your room, we, me and Kierce, decided we should take a nap. Boy, I haven't felt so well rested since-well, before we ran into the Red Demons." Darold paused and waved Iona on, "Come on, everyone's already up and helping out with the garden. Unless you wish to bathe, Dae-Hyun has a wicked bathroom. Come on, I'll show you!" That's the real Darold for you, chatty as he could be and wants to show you everything.

Iona raised her hand up, sign of stop, "No thanks. I'll help myself." The girl turned around, going back into her room when she stopped herself. A question popped into her brain, and she leaned back, "Darold?" The boy turned around, he was only a few steps away from her, "Did you have a weird dream?"

The boy sheepishly smiled at Iona, "Yeah, but it was kind of peaceful for me."

"What was it about?"

"Well, it was weird, but I had completed all the elements, defeated the Earth Kingdom, and saved the world. It was awesome, and then…" Darold's word drifted away when his face began to flush in a sweet rosy pink.

"What?"

"I found got married to this… I don't know, this girl. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I never saw her face or who she was, but if I see her, you know, in real life. I'll know who she is."

* * *

><p>Her mind wondered a bit as she sat in the large tub with boiling water against her dark chocolate skin as she sunk her head into the water. The water awoke every body in her system, and rose up, her hair down and covering her upper body. <em>He dreamt of another girl.<em> Her eyes closed shut at that thought running through her mind, fighting the urge to tear up. _It was all a dream, that's all it was. It's not like it's going to happen, right?_

The bathroom was a little bigger than her bedroom, however, it was still small with one sink, one tub, and shower behind her. Two windows were half opened, one peered out by the garden and the other against some of the flowers that were growing on the side. Her eyes stretched upward, watching Darold and Dae-Hyun to take a break, drinking something, what it was, she couldn't see from here. Iona didn't feel comfortable with Darold being around that guy, whoever he was.

Finishing up, she pulled the drain, feeling the water being washed away, she rose up and pulled a white towel around her hour-glass body before tucking the last corner underneath the wrapped towel. She pulled her hair from out beneath the towel and side as it laid there damped and tangled. As she stepped out from the tub, she stepped on a light mat that was already there, soaking up her water feet.

The door flung open with Kierce holding onto the handle. He had some fresh towels against his body as he looked in the room. "Ahh-" He couldn't speak, he was blushing hardcore, "I_-_I-I'm so sorry, Iona! I-I-I didn't k-know you were in here." His word began to stumble as he backed out of the bathroom.

"It's alright, it's my fault. I don't usually keep the doors lock." She comments as she pulled her hair over her right shoulder and began to twist it, and felt all the water fall out.

Kierce felt a little uncomfortable, gulping his own spilt before coming back into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him. "Sooo," He dragged out the word as he walked behind Iona, placing the towels on a green nightstand nearby, "How was your nap?"

The girl tried not to think about it because it felt too perfect, and blameless fell upon her. "If you must know, it felt too perfect, you know? It was like, my dream came true."

Kierce nodded his head as he stood by the towels, watching Iona pull her hair back and behind her shoulders, "Yeah, I know what you mean. I mean, what was your dream about?" He asked, curious to know everything.

"Can you pass me my clothes?" Iona asked, turning her upper body around. Kierce did what he was told, grabbed the clothes that were on the floor and gave them to her. "My dream was-"

"Are you going to change, right now?" Kierce interrupted her, his face was brightly red now feeling a little too embarrassed.

"If you have a problem with it, just leave, but if you want to stay, turn your back." Iona watched as Kierce turned his back to her as she changed, "And if dare to turn around, let's just say that you're no longer welcome to travel with us." There was no answer to Kierce, and the dark chocolate girl began to cloth herself, slipping on some extra clothes she brought along. She continued to speak as she put on a knee length red, gold, and black kimono. "I got married to my dream guy, had kids, and grew old together with him… But it was strange how all the events took place, you know? It felt like a dream, but it wasn't. It felt so real, that when we touched," her face became lightly pink as she bit her lower lip, "it was like he cared about me too. The weirdest part about all of it was that Dae-Hyun was in it. Did that happen to you?"

"Yeah, my dream was the same thing, expect, instead of my dream girl, it was you. We got married, had a few kids, and grew old together, and we sat on this bench in this park, but it looked more like a garden with a peach tree over us and in the distances, there was Dae-Hyun, waving at us."

"What?" Iona became baffled, and when she had slipped on her kimono, she slipped on black shorts. Like she said, they were extra clothes and that meant nothing but something comfortable with black, red, and golden designs all over her short sleeve kimono. "Help me tie the bow." She ordered Kierce, and from the reflection in the nearby mirror, Iona saw the boy turn around and did what he was told. "I had that exact dream, expect with someone else." She bit her lip, "Why of all people would Dae-Hyun be in there. He wouldn't have lived that long to have been there. I don't know about any of this, but I think we should leave."

Fiddling with her golden bow, Kierce shrugged his shoulders, "We should just stay least one night then go. We all haven't slept well since the Red Demons attacked us, and I and Darold did help out, and he promised us more food and good stories. Give it get more one night, then we'll go." He finished the bow and his hands somehow got tangled with her black hair, "Wow, I like it when you wear your hair down."

The girl slowly turned around and all of a sudden, their bodies pressed together, arms tangled around each other as their lips met for the very first time and somehow, just somehow, love was formed in that moment.

* * *

><p>Iona groan in pain as she woke up from the wooden floor, her eyes glanced sideways, staring at the dark green wall. Her body laid on its left side, reminding her what happened. She quickly lifted her head up, feeling her loose ponytail swinging around, "What's going on?" She uttered to herself as she scanned the dining room. No one was in sight, no Dae-Hyun, no Kierce, and no Darold. Everything was missing, the food on the table, the sunlight, even the color of the room seemed so empty. How did this all happen? Has she been sleeping this whole time? A wave of relief blew over her, <em>Phew. Then that means me and Kierce never got together. What a relief!<em>

Darkness, she was swallowed in darkness. The dark chocolate girl lifted her hand upward in the air, and revealed flames. The source of the flames turned into light, allowing her to look around further. Slowly rising up on her two feet, she slowly walked around, "Darold?" She repeated his name several times, spaced it every five seconds before she spoke again. "Darold?" Her glowing green orbs glanced towards the kitchen as she noticed a shadow. Who it was, she wasn't sure, but when she pushed the top curtain away from her face and hand, darkness had eaten her. The light on her fingertips were gone and a spotlight was on Darold and a beautiful pale girl with blinding blond hair and blue eyeballs.

Darold got on his knees and revealed a small red box and popped it open, "Marry me." The adorable blond, almost as tall as Darold, did a small giggly dance before she jumped into his arms.

Scenes past her eyes as she watched Darold's life flash before her eyes as he married that blond, had her kids, and grew old with her. The one thing she ever loved was now gone. She cried outward but the words wouldn't come out. If anything, she just held onto her heart, right above her tub top. The pain that made her heart heavy as Iona fell onto her knees, "No… This can't be."

"Don't feel bad, kid, that's not the only thing that happened." A familiar annoying voice ran in her eardrums, causing her head to look up and turn to the stranger who wore all green. Three scar marks against his left side of his face, and she gasped as he held up a sword to Iona.

"W-what? You're from the Earth Kingdom?"

Behind Kierce, flames rose behind him as his face grinned ear to ear, creasing his scars. "You know that's right. You've always known, but you never did anything about it. Tch. I killed everyone, everyone you loved." Kierce knelt down beside Iona before he brushed her black bangs out of her face, "Hey, don't worry, I'll make sure he feels your pain."

"What? What are you talking about?" She asked as she watched Kierce rise up to his feet and shifted his weight. Her green eyes glanced over at Darold who had finally returned into the spotlight with a smile on his face. "No, you can't be serious." The tip of Kierce's right foot pressed hard against the ground before the boy charged at Darold, using a battle cry. His blade moved in front of his body, "Kierce, no!" Iona rose up on to her feet and chased after Kierce, but it was too late. After her second step, blood flew all over her body. "No!" Those words seemed to echo outward before she fell onto her knees.

"Hello sister." Her eyes widen as she knew that voice, "Did you miss me?" Xathus slowly came into place, holding his fist up at his sister, "I thought you would, so I hope you don't mind if I stop by for a visit. Heh. I mean, you did lose everything. Your dream man, the Avatar, world peace, and you were betrayed. Doesn't it hurt?" Iona froze, she didn't know what to do as her brother draw in closer. "Don't worry, I'll end this quickly." The last thing Iona remembers doing was screaming at the top of her lungs.

* * *

><p>"Ah!" Iona woke once more, tears streaked down her cheeks as she held herself, "It was just a nightmare, it was just a nightmare. It's over, you don't have to be afraid anymore." She softly repeated to herself, closing her eyes as she attempted to rock herself. Once she felt somewhat calm, she opened her green eyeballs and noticed, she was still in the same house, still in the dining room. It was nighttime, she slowly glanced around the room, pushing herself off of wooden floor once more. Darold laid on the other side of the table and another wave of relief blew over her body. Slowly, she had crawled towards his body, "Darold, hey Darold, wake up!" She shook his body, pressing her hands against his chest, "I said wake up, Darold!" Her voice became softly angered as tears dripped down from her face and onto his clothing.<p>

Sweat dripped down from his forehead as his words began to pour out like warm honey, "N-no!" He uttered, "Y-you can't win! N-n-no, Xathus, p-p-please, don't kill me!"

Her eyes widen as she attempted to wake him from his dream. "Come on, Darold! You have to wake up, you just have too!" Iona shook him once more, and she saw his eyes trying to open. "Come on, come on," His chocolate eyes gazed up at Iona, slowly adjusting before he spoke to her.

"Iona," He asked softly, "What are you doing here?" His eyes fluttered around, only seeing the ceiling then the tears in her eyes. "Why are you crying?" Slowly, the Avatar's upper body rose up, his hands holding her, one on her upper arm and the other held her shoulder.

"I dreamt that you died." Her words struggled out before the tears were release from her eyelids. Her lips shook before Darold held her close to body. Her head rested on his left shoulder as his strong, warm arms brought her body close to him. "You can't die." She whispered softly before she wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Shhh." Darold whispered in her ear, "Hey, it's ok, I'm right here." Iona didn't want this moment to pass, she didn't want to let go of her beloved friend, her crush. "I had the same exact dream, expect, you died and world around us was destroyed because I couldn't learn all the elements." His voice was pierced in pain as he held her closer, squeezing the life out of Iona. "I don't want to lose you, not like that."

A body slowly rose up from the other side of the table, groaning in pain before he spoke softly, "Ouch. Oh wow, it's pretty dark outside-" Kierce head turned slightly to the right and saw Iona and Darold hold each other than three seconds. The boy frowned but had a faint smile as he crawled over to the group, "Aw, I didn't know this was a group hug," Kierce unwelcomed arms wrapped around both of kids and whispered, "I thought you guys were… gone."

* * *

><p>The group had recovered from the emotional experience and began to find Dae-Hyun. He had been missing since the group had woke up, but none of them had found him. Not one bit. "Oh, I've got it," Iona pondered before she hit her fist into her open palm, "We were in a dream within a dream." The boys narrowed their eyebrows against their eyes as they stared at Iona with puzzled expression, "Do you remember those stories about the Baku?"<p>

"What's a Baku?" Kierce asked.

"A Baku can create dreams within a dream, creating perfect memories and nightmares when we wake up from each dream." Iona explained, "I mean, we all had perfect dreams, somehow, we all woke up, and had nightmares. It makes perfect sense," She paused as she began to ponder some more, "You know, I think we're still in a dream…"

"What? That doesn't make any sense. Why would we be in a dream, in another dream within a dream? That just seems stupid." Darold popped off as he peeked his head out of the dining room and into the hallway. "Why does the Baku do that then? Why doesn't he just kill us in real life?"

"Because he's a spirit," Iona spoke out wisely, "The only way he can kill his victims are through their dreams. That makes sense for the peach tree. I've always wanted to see a peach tree when I was little, and guess he created a peach tree to draw us in." She smacked his palm against her forehead.

"So, where is this Baku?" Kierce said as he drifted around the dining room, glancing out of the window and the kitchen before circling past Iona once more. "If he's so great, where is he?"

Iona tilts her head upward, her hand now under her chin and the other one supported her elbow. "That's a good question. If I were a Baku spirit, I would have told my victims were not to go… Upstairs!" Iona bolted out of the dining room as Darold and Kierce voice calling out behind her, telling her to wait up. With a quick turn in the dim light hallway, she saw the stairs. There wasn't time to stop and stare, she kept running, barefoot, up the staircase, feeling it twist around the room before she reached the top of the staircase. Her exhaled her air and saw a small puff of smoke escape her lips, chills ran down her spine and she knew she was close.

There was only one room down that narrowed hallway, no windows, no plants, nothing was there in her way. The boys were right behind her, "Don't open that door, Iona!" Kierce called out, trying to catch his breath, watching Iona walk towards the door. "He told us not to go in there-we promised."

"No, I never promised anyone. He wasn't even alive, he's just a host for the Baku." Iona respond as she wrapped her right hand around the rusty golden door handle.

"Please don't, Iona, what if something happened?" Darold asked her, "What if we die here in the dream, do we wake up in the real world?"

The girl slowly turned her body around, her hand firmly grasped on the door handle, her eyes filled with sorrow, "No. We die in the dream and the Baku eats our soul and we become another plant in his garden." Her head quickly around as she opened the door, feeling some light in the room, Iona's heart began to pound as the door slightly creaked open. What if Darold was right? What if the Baku was behind the door? She would die here and all the dreams she had, her nightmares would come true.

Inside the wooden room were statues. Gray horrible statues of people in many different ages, Iona's mouth dropped open as she walked into the room, seeing the window opened completely as it shined light on what, twenty five statues of people? There were more than that, "Oh my gosh." Those were the words that spilled out of her mouth as she saw women from all ages, as well as kids, elders, and men. She swallowed the fear that tried to take over her.

"What? What's in that room?" Kierce shout down the hallway, "Iona?"

She couldn't breathe, she couldn't even speak right. "T-there's…there's statues of all the victims." She shouted back, "It's horrible."

"Get out of there!" Darold spoke up.

Iona did what Darold by shifting her weight and ran towards the door. The door moved on its own, shutting in front of her face. The boys on the other side began to shout out to Iona as they pounded on the wooden door. "Iona!" Kierce called out, "Iona, what's happened? Talk to us!"

"The door shut, you moron!" Iona shouted back at them. The pounding deceased as Iona pressed her cheek against the door, "I don't think I'll be able to get out." She sighed, and then something sparked her brain. The window, the open window, how could she have missed it? It was right there in front of her, "There's a window, oh! I'll meet you guys down in the garden!" As she rushed over towards the window, screams echoed in the upstairs hallway. Unpleasant chills ran down her back as she ran back to the door, twisting and turning the door handle, pulling and pushing, however the door never budged. "No!" She screamed out as she began to beat her balled up fist against the door, "Darold, Kierce!" There was no respond other than creaking wood falling. "No, this can't be happening."

Iona wasn't going to let the Baku win. No, she had to be strong and find her friends. Unusual voices came from the window, catching her attention. The girl rushed towards the window, seeing Darold striking it with his fist as Kierce chucked yucky wooden boards at it. It seemed like both of them didn't know what they were doing. She just sighed as she watched the Baku striking by slamming it's long three claws into the ground, causing an earthquake to erupt beneath both of the boys' feet.

The Baku, a dream stealer and creator spirit, had a body of a mammal, a head of an elephant, and ears of a small mouse. It had lushes dark brown the light brown fur all over it's body. Its glowing red eyes seemed outward at the two boys before it chuckled, opening up it's lips and moving its tusks around. "You both are pathetic; you can't do anything like your friend." Both of the boys didn't even pay attention, Kierce had fallen into the cracks of the earthquake and Darold came to aid him. "Avatar, I'm a little disappointed that you couldn't figure out who I was? I thought by being around me, you'd discover I was a spirit. Heh. You're as dumb as Winged-Lemur."

"Hold on, Kierce," Darold grunted as he held one of Kierce's hand. The boy attempted to pull him up, however Kierce was heavier than he looked. Darold cried out in pain, struggling to pull up his friend.

"Darold," Kierce called out from between the cracks, "Tell Iona that I-"

"Don't be stupid, you can't die here."

"Well, it looks like I am." Kierce closed his eyes, already giving up.

The ground began to shake as the Baku came charging at the Avatar, his tusks ready to take him out. "No, I'm not going to let you die here. Not ever." Darold closed his eyes, preparing himself for death but the Baku screamed out in pain. Confused, he opened his eyes, seeing Iona standing in front of him and streak of flames lit on the plants. "Iona!"

"What, Iona's there?" Kierce opened his eyes, and attempted to pull himself.

Her back was facing Darold, out of breath, she kept her eyes on the Baku who was slowly burning. "How did you-?" Darold asked.

"I jumped out of a window, tumbled down the roof and ran as fast as I could. Does that satisfy you, Darold, because I don't think Kierce is going to survive if you're distracted by my story." She commented before turning towards the large crack in the ground.

"Right!" Both pulled Kierce up and out of the crack, seeing tears drip down his eye. He first hugs Iona, whispering something in her ear before he ran over to Darold and gave him a hug.

"I love you guys." Kierce said out-loud as he pulled away from Darold.

"We don't have time to thank each other, look." Iona pointed out as their eyes watch the Baku returning back on his four feet.

The thing shook its fur, before it spoke, "Curse you, child! How dare you strike me?" Anger and laughter twisted around his uncomfortable laughter, "You still don't know how to defeat me."

A showing off grin grew on Iona's face, "Of course I do, it's quite simple really. The only way to get into the dream was to get your peach tree, now, if I'm smart, which, I am." Now Iona began to show off her brains as she walked forward, away from the group, "You destroy the peach tree, destroying you and your dream world."

"W-w-what?"

"Yeah, you're smart with all that twisted dreams and stuff, but, really? All we have to do is burn the tree down and we're free."

The Baku was shocked, his mouth was still opened, "But you can't bend, well you can, but not your friends! They don't have the Kingdom Gloves, how do you except to burn down a tree."

"It's simple," She nodded her head, and the Avatar began to jog past Iona, off to the side, "We have the Avatar, he much more powerful than me and Kierce combined. All Darold has to do is get into the Avatar Statue, and poof. You'll disappear for good."

"No! That won't happen!" Baku cried out as he charged at Darold.

"Quick, stop him!" She ordered Kierce before they both started running towards the Baku. Flames extended on her arm as she began to shoot them at his eyes. The creature screamed in pain as Kierce revealed a small dagger from his shoe and began to cut the Baku. The monster began to swing around, trying to step on Kierce. Iona began to shoot out more fireballs out at the Baku, distracting him from the pain beneath his feet.

From the corner of her eye, she could see a light blinding blue color rising up in the darkness. Darold was in the Avatar Statue. His eyes burned in that light blue color as he began to do a stanch she had never seen before. He threw his arms out and began to spin both of them as he began to jump and twist in the air. As he landed, flames bursted from his hands in a light blue color, burning the peach tree. The Baku screamed out, running towards its tree, however, the Avatar noticed it was still alive and with one more step forward, the blue flames extended outwards and hit the creature, burning him alive.

"Noooooooooooooo!" The Baku screamed out before he disappeared with the wind as well as his peach tree.

* * *

><p>Once more, Iona woke up on her left side, expect, this time, she laid on the grass. The sweet smell of grass welcomed her. She rose her body up from the ground and noticed, there was no house, no garden, no Dae-Hyun, just a tree stump in place of where the table was. A bright smile grew on her face, "We did it." She whispered.<p>

"Agh, my head," Kierce spoke as he rose up from the ground, his hand holding onto his head, "I feel like we did something good."

Iona couldn't help but to smile and hug the boy, "We did it, Kierce!"

The boy smiled sheepishly, "Yeah, we did."

Darold slowly rose up; his chocolate eyes were back to normal and just sighed. "Well, I'm just glad that's all over." He watched Iona and Kierce, release each other and just smiled, "Look on the bright side, we slept in." Laughter escaped all of their lips as they began to gather each other's things and head towards Fire Fountain City that was only a few more miles to go but the sight of it was beautiful. They were so close.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> Wow. This chapter is one of the longest chapters, I have ever written. Crazy right, but there was so much I wanted to show, so much to explain. Well, I hope you enjoyed it. I got the idea from my best friend, Ariel, and my father. She came up the scene and the statues, while my dad was like, 'do something like inception'. So there! Dream within a dream, cursing your hopes and dreams. Ha ha! Please review! Tell me what you thought about the chapter, the characters, or anything!


	4. Chapter 4: Too Much Fun

Chapter Four: Too Much Fun

"Look!" The excitement glimmered through Darold's smile as his right hand was stretched out as well as his index finger, pointing down at the city below them, "We're almost there! Can you believe it?" The Avatar became overwhelmed with joy before he rushed off, leaving his friends in the dust.

Both the other group members glanced at each other before sighing, "Is he always this childish?" Kierce asked Iona, now carrying both his own backpack and Darold's.

"It only happens when he's excited, but sometimes, it's all the time. He just never grew up. Isn't that something?" Iona respond, her hands held both of her backpack straps before glancing forward, "He can still be a kid while the rest of us grow up. "

Kierce shrugged his shoulders, his blue eyes glanced up at the sky, "It's not such a bad thing, really," He paused before he glanced back down at Iona, "I mean, the older you get, you more chance you have to find someone that loves you."

Iona narrowed her eyes, "Really?" Her eyes were in tangled with the sun falling on the Fire Fountain City, "Your still trying to hit on me, I've already told you, no, I will not date you. How many more times do I have to tell you?"

"Until it sinks in, or if you say yes, or maybe, I found someone else. There's so many option, heck, I'll just wait for you baby." He raised his arm, about to wrap around Iona's shoulders before she spoke up.

"Nu-huh, don't even think about it."

"Ok." He frowned before dropping his arm back beside his body.

* * *

><p>The town glowed from a far with several lanterns hanging between houses and along the street. Laughter was in the air as children rush through the street, holding onto sparkling sticks. Everyone in the town seemed to be out and about, wearing their fancy robes. Most the shops were closed and fireworks exploded up in the air. This was a little unusual for the group to see, least to see happiness. Awing as they entered Fire Fountain City, Darold seemed to glance around before running off into the crowd of people.<p>

"Darold, wait-!" Iona voice was covered up by some the music playing in the background as she watched the Avatar rushing off. "Great. Just great, we managed to lose Darold and get in the middle of this… what is this?"

Kierce eyes glanced around as well, watching off in the distances, seeing people dancing and singing along. "Before we met you guys, we went passed this city. They had told us that they held celebrates every two weeks, and one day, they celebrate. Some say because it's summer tradition but others believe because if they keep their spirits up and believe in the Avatar, then they don't have to struggle in life. Do you understand what I'm talking about?"

"So," Iona's arm crossed over her chest as she slowly walked through the crowd of people with Kierce, "They are trying to forget about their troubles, the war, and believe that they Avatar will save them? That kind of makes some sense I guess. If I were a normal person, I'd wanna believe in something."

Both of them headed towards the center of the Fire Fountain City, seeing the crowd of people in several different age groups, some clapping, others eating as their eyes were gazed upon the people dancing, making a fool of themselves. Iona's eyes glanced up at the statue behind the dancers, seeing the new statue of Lord Odo, after Aang saved the world, the Fire Fountain City took down their statue and replaced it once Lord Odo came into power. His pose was graceful, his arms slightly out, in a fire bending pose, both of his palms facing out, his legs apart enough to balance himself. It was charming, but her eyes didn't once it for too long because among the crowd danced the Avatar. Darold smiled, laughing, as his hands pressed against several Fire Nation women.

"Excuse me," Someone from a few feet away from spoke out Kierce, "Would you like to dance?" Both her eyes and Kierce turned to the young lady. She wore a charming white kimono with red flower patterns and red along the collar, sleeves, and along the bottom of her kimono. Her hair was pinned up into a bun, revealing her red pins that dangled down along her hair.

Kierce dropped all of his bags before turning to Iona, "Sorry, I can't refuse a dance."

Before Iona could say anything, she was left with three bags, two of her friends disappeared to dance, and now, she was alone in a crowd of strangers.

* * *

><p>Iona was smart enough to go ahead and get an Inn, dropping off their stuff and even decided explore the whole event. Large banners hung all around, saying it was the Dragon Festival; however, there were no dragons in Fire Fountain City. There hadn't been any in several years, and still won't be. Returning back to the center of the town, seeing that Darold and Kierce had disappeared, they were no longer dancing. <em>Where have they gone?<em> Her mind wondered as she began to go through the crowd.

"Free Fire Gummies; come while they're still hot!" A voice rung through her ears as she shifted her eyes to a small booth. It had several drapes covering the wood work, but the man behind it held up some Fire Gummies. It had been several years since she had some. With a childish smile against her face, she headed towards the booth, "Well, good evening young lady, would you like some Fire Gummies?"

Iona nodded her head, "Thank you," She replied once she received a small box with gummies in several different colors. The only came in three shapes, the Fire Nation symbol, Lord Odo's face, and the Fire Nation flower: Fire Lilies. The girl dipped her hand into the box filled of her childhood memories before picking it up and feeding it into her mouth. The spicy yet sweet taste reminded her a few festivals she went to as a child in the Fire Nation Capitol.

As she began to wonder around, she decided to check out a few games while she began to eat. There was no sight of Darold or Kierce. This town was over populated and it would take her all night to find her friends. "Hey, are you lost?"

Her eyes drifted towards the unfamiliar voice, seeing a group of boys. They looked a little older than Iona, early twenties, but they were extremely buff. All of the boys wore the Fire Nation military outfit, body full of armor and a gray undershirt beneath them. Everyone in the military wears it, even their hairs up with a golden headpiece on top. The three boys seemed to get closer to her as Iona attempted going around them. "No."

"Come on, you have been looking for twenty minutes now, I know you're lost. Let us help you find, whatever your looking for." The middle one spoke, his chocolate eyes glued to her own dark chocolate eyes.

"No thanks, I think I can find my way around here."

The man in the middle cut her off, grabbing her wrist and pulling her close, "Come on, it'll be fun."

"I said no, don't make me hurt you." Her eyes narrowed, her teeth gritting against each other.

"We are supposed to have fun, now come on." With one tug, Iona pulled her wrist, however, the man had a tight grip. She used her other hand to slap him across his face, which echoed through that part of the town, the lower side. The man used his other hand to hold his cheek, "Ouch. That really hurts." For some reason, he let her slid her his fingertips, allowing Iona to feel the blood circling through her left hand once more. "You wanna play rough, well, here it comes." An anger, yet sinister smile peeled through his face as they began to chase Iona.

* * *

><p>Her heart was racing as she began to push her way through the crowd of people. Anger, puzzled looks glared over at her, but that didn't stop her. No, she pressed forth as she could only hear her heart ringing in her ears as she turned down un-crowed location, revealing a small fountain, however, she didn't have time to stop and admire the artwork. The footsteps that followed behind her seemed to remind her why she was running, so she could stay alive.<p>

Two thoughts echoed through her mind; _I could just take them out. I really could. It'd be easy too, _A soft smile grew on her face, however as she began to go down a dark alley, her thoughts to grim_, though_,_ it'd be easy, we'd be kicked out or worse, public enemies of our own Nations. I can't risk it, not while Darold and Kierce our out there. Jeez, where are they when you need them?_ Her mind began to scramble, but nothing seemed to map out but to come up with a third option, run. She was good at that.

A crowd of laughter hung beside unpleasant stores nearby, causing her eyes to check them out, even if it was just a glimpse. One of the guys in the group seemed familiar, least his laughter did. She didn't really have a choice, she stopped, grabbed a tattooed arm and pulled it. "Hi honey, did you miss me?" Without even looking, her lips became locked in his and the footsteps that followed behind her seemed to disappear. Iona opened her eyes, glancing over her shoulder, "Phew. They're gone."

"Iona?" Her body became stone, she knew who it was, "What are earth are you doing? I can't be just-you just kissed me?" Her eyes slowly creaked back over to a black curly hair, well, no longer black curly hair. The boy had it shaved off and now only had a Mohawk in it's place. His golden chocolate eyes melted her own dark chocolate eyes.

"Darold I-I-" Her voice tumbled in embarrassment, in fear of what had just happened, "I'm so sorry, I didn't realize that you—you were even here. Please forgive me, I was just trying to escape some awfu—"

"Come here you!" Darold had cut off Iona's words as he grabbed her face, pulling her closer and kissing her. The moment seemed to stretch on, allowing Iona to dance as the moment had finally come where Darold would finally accept her, love her, and possible marry her! What a joy! She placed her hands on his and within a few seconds later, Darold released the sweet kiss, "I've always wanted to… to see what it was like to kiss a girl. It was kind of strange really, you have fat lips." The boy began to swing his body around as he leaned forward, "But , don't worry, I can make it up in bed."

"Darold, have you been drinking?" That was the first question that popped into her mind. Eighteen years old weren't supposed to drink, unless you hang around older people, then they feed it to you. Her eyes trailed down to his arms and noticed the tattoos much better. "Oh my gosh, is that a tattoo?"

"That's right baby, I got two flames on my arms, see?" He showed Iona, leaning back. The black ink on his skin seemed to softly glow in the lantern light. It twisted around his arms, "But you can't tell my mother. She'd kill me if she found me drinking and getting more tattoos." He pressed his left index finger up to his lips.

"More tattoos? Darold, I don't think that's such a good idea." Iona frowned as she tried to pull Darold away.

"What are you talking about it doesn't hurt, see?" The Avatar clicked on of his tattoos before hissing, "Ouch that hurt." Iona rolled her eyes before pulling him along. "Aw, I'm not tired. Don't make me go to sleep. I haven't gotten to take to Chelsa."

"Who's Chelsa?"

The Avatar pointed over towards the nearby bar, a woman with tangled black hair and one red strip twisted around her pulled back bangs. "She's so pretty."

"I don't think she's gonna miss you." As they walked on, a women came up to her, offering her a drink, but she just pushed it off. Darold complained, so she got them drinks. "There happy now?"

"I'm not unhappy." He commented before he chugged it down his throat before exhaling the air he had inhale.

Iona took a sip of it. The taste seemed bitter, and even smelt disgusting. What was it? Whatever it was, she pulled it once more up to her lips and took another sip. _It wouldn't hurt to drink a little bit, would it?_ Figuring out it was beer, she kept drinking small sips, knowing her limits.

* * *

><p>The night went out with several blurry colors, excitement, laughter, and even things that Iona couldn't really remember. One minute she was with Darold, drinking with his friends, and the next, everything was a blur. Was she dancing earlier? No, she couldn't really remember. This was bad, really bad. Red flags began to flare up in her mind, however, she couldn't even think straight, and by the time her brain knew something was wrong, she wouldn't have a chance to stop herself. She went along with everything, telling stupid jokes to singing awful karaoke songs. The last thing that stood out like a sore thumb was the laughers turned into hollers and into frighten screams. What was going, she didn't know? The only thing she could see was bright flames surrounding her and that she wanted to touch it.<p>

* * *

><p>The next morning hit Darold hard as he woke up, coughing a bit. His black Mohawk curly hair seemed to dip down on his face as his eyes slowly widen. The sight of once was beauty had been devoured by chaos. Pushing something off of his left side of his body, something rusted, he could see it now. The sight all around him, the lower part of Fire Fountain City had been swallowed up by flames. The burnt smell was still in the air as well as cries. How he could sleep this, all of this horror? The Avatar pulled himself out of the rubble, the ruins beside him sunk into his last steps. The sky was slowly blending with the morning sun and the smoke above their heads.<p>

Scratches and bruises were all among his body as he walked into the somewhat clear street, seeing nothing left expect where the side of the Fire Fountain City buildings. It was a straight line, leading towards the Cliffside of the town. Everything he knew to be at peace was nothing more than a lie as he strolled around calling out to his friends. His filthy hands cupped over his lips as he began to shout out to Iona and Kierce. He impatiently waited three seconds before calling their names out once more. No responds. "This can't be happening." Darold softly whispered, his eyes lifting down to his feet as doubt began to set in. "How can I become the Avatar when I can't prevent something like this from happening?" Questions and depression slowly set into his mind as the boy didn't know what else to do. His bags were missing, his arms were burning, and there was a breeze on the sides of his head.

A voice called out to him in the distances, "Darold!" The boy turned his head up and at an angle as he stared off into the distances. The voice shouted again, allowing the Avatar to see who was calling him. The male figured moved through the rubble, making his way towards the Avatar, "Darold, hey—hey dude, are you alright?" It was Kierce. He looked worse than Darold did, his clothes ripped, bleed still stain on his face, and those scars on the left side of his face look torn than before.

"Yeah, I guess so. Ow." Darold pulled up his arms, noticing the thick black ink against his arms and the swirls of flames ripping across his forearms. "What the-when did this happen?"

Kierce glanced down at the Avatar's tattoos and narrowed his eyebrows, "Wow. Nice tattoos, when did this happen-we don't have time to talk about looks. I can't find Iona, have you seen her? I haven't even seen her before you ran off into the crowd." Darold widen his chocolate eyeballs, shocked that Iona had been missing.

"Wh-what? You mean-what do you mean she's missing? She wouldn't be missing, ever. We are talking about a girl who can defend for herself and she vowed to protect me. She wouldn't just be missing!" Darold raged on before he grabbed the torn collar on Kierce's clothes, "I swear to you, we will find her, or so help me, I will end myself."

* * *

><p>The splash of water awoke her sense and brought chills down her face and spine. Iona's green eyes glanced upward, seeing the same female she had saw that night? Was it still night? Her green orbs glanced around, seeing nothing but wooden boxes to small wooden windows. She knew exactly what was going on. Iona had been captured on a pirates' boat nonetheless. The sunlight leaking through the tiny windows meant morning, and the constant headache pounding against her brain also meant she had a lovely hangover. Great. "Well, you finally movin' along aren't you?" The black tangled hair with one streak of red in the middle of it, Chelsa, smirked from ear to ear as she leaned in closer, "I thought you'd never wake up." Her white cut blouse hung on both of her shoulders, buttoned half way, her sandy brown pants raised above her waist and several belts wrapped around her tiny waist held several swords.<p>

"What do you want?" Iona asked her, slowly moving her arms and noticed she couldn't. Her hands were tied up once more with lots of rope and pinned it behind her back.

"It's not that hard to guess sweetheart, we know what you are. I saw you, rushing up to that boy last night. Yeah, I can't believe you've been running this long." Chelsa splat out before she rose up once more, her golden earrings to bracelets to necklaces chimed with her.

"Excuse me?"

"Well, isn't it obvious? You're a slave, I mean, come on, why did you run around and helped that man. He's your master. I looked up anything about you, even asked a few of the townsmen, and three lovely men explained to me that you're a slave. I did everyone a favor by taking you."

"No, you don't understand, I'm not—I'm not a slave. I have never been one." Iona responds with some pride left in her. Why would they assume she's a slave, was it because of her color? Really, they had to just kidnap her.

"Darling," Chelsa bent down once more, her hand cupped under Iona's chin, "you're my bait. Just think about it, why would we just sell you into slavery when we could also capture the Avatar? I mean, it's brilliant. We'd get double the money and well, the Earth Kingdom would be grant us more riches than all Kingdoms combined."

Iona bit her lip, she couldn't believe that slavery had even started, but not only was she going to slavery, she was bait for her best friend.

Slavery had been rumored to go underway through some pirate crews and underground through the Earth Kingdom. It was a little extra way to get money, and if you were different in anyway, you were taken no matter what. It hasn't been too long since it's happened, but, it wasn't going to happen for her. Her hands cupped the rope behind her and with a touch, they burst into flames.

Iona rose up to her feet and charged at Chelsa, who only smiled before she released her sword, slashing Iona's right side of her neck. The girl tumbled to the floor, her both hands placed on top of her wounded neck as Chelsa walked up to her in her deep red pirate boots. "Now, if you're done messing around, I've got a job for you."

* * *

><p>It must have been hours, running around, asking anything they could, but there was no sight of Iona. Both boys must have asked least a hundred different people, yet, none of them could remember what had happen last night, not even both of the boys.<p>

As they raced across the whole town, nothing seemed to sparkle out that Iona had been there. Darold began to give up, "This is hopeless! We can't find her, she's long gone." The Avatar threw his hands up in the air, a sign of surrender.

Kierce glanced over at Darold before he punched the boy in the face with his right hook. "What is your problem?" Kierce kept his blue eyes on the Avatar as he fell to the floor, his inked hands touched his injured cheek. "Do you think Iona gave up on you when she was trapped in the dream world?" Selfish Darold glanced away as he sat on the ground, listening in, "How about the time we meet? Do you think she gave up because she knew they had captured you? No, Iona has never given up on you, so why would you give up on her? So snap out of it." The scarred boy yelled at the Avatar before walking away from him.

Darold sat there against the uneven ground, his feet crossed over each other as he dropped his inked arms and began to think. What would he do? He exhaled and began to mediate, hands on the edge of his knee cap as he tried to use his senses to locate Iona.

* * *

><p>They stripped her of her pride, of her right, of anything she had on her skin. They had given her a long gray cloth to cover all parts of her body as he dangled just above her knee caps, the long sleeves stopped just a little after her elbows and her neck was throbbing in pain. The pirates were nice enough to wrap two layers of a white cloth around her neck, leaving a damped blood stain against it. Ashamed, yet buried in anger, she worked. That was the only thing they gave her to do, work a little bit and then return to being the bait they needed.<p>

Her black hair was flowing against her shoulders, touching the end of her shoulder blades as she began to scrub against the wooden deck, hearing snickers and utters coming from the crew. Her hands pressed hard against the tiny broken brush as she pressed forward and back, trying to remove a spot on the ship.

One of the crew members had passed by Iona, kicking her dark brown bucket, releasing all the water out of the bucket and back into the deck. Laughter was uproar causing the black girl to become flustered, gathering her bucket however, slipping on the water that slipped outward._ Hurry up, Darold, I don't know how much longer I can hold off before I kill the whole crew. _She bit her lip as her thoughts raged on.

* * *

><p>As Darold began to mediate, the boy had entered a quiet private place where may linger in the spirit world. As the spirit him, awoke his eyes, a familiar friend stood in front of him. A short buff man stood in front him with his thick black handle bars against his face and just smiled with his black orbs, "Ahh, Darold, it's good to see you lad!" The short fella in front of him wore an Earth Kingdom hat against his bald head and an Earth Kingdom army robe against his hairy flesh.<p>

A smile peeled onto Darold's face, "It's good to see you too, Avatar Fedyn." The boy bowed before his old self, but Fedyn just laughed.

"Darold, please, you don't have to call me 'Avatar Fedyn'. That was a long time ago," The older Avatar folded his knees under each other as he placed each hand against one leg, "So what can I help you with-whoa, since when did you get a haircut? I can't say you're not working it, nor those bloody tats. Is this all you wanted, to show off your new dos?"

Darold became baffled, glancing back down at his tattoos, knowing them, but ruffled his fingers through his hair. His chocolate eyes widen, only feeling one spot full of hair. "Oh my gosh!" The boy began to softly weep to himself, "I didn't know this happened too, nooo! My hair, why my hair!"

"Calm down, it'll grow out." Fedyn laughed, amused by Darold's expressions.

After calming down, wiping the tears away from his eyes, he began to explain everything that has happened from the Black Cliffs. It was a lot to talk about, but it's different in the spirit world. Hours in here meant minutes in the real world, possibly seconds. Exhaling, ending up what has happened now, "That's all I know. There's no trace of her, what do I do?"

Avatar Fedyn began to ponder on the thoughts, his black eyes glancing down into nothingness before he snapped his fingers. "Oh oh! I remember something, you must believe in her. You've known her longer than this Kierce guy, she will send you a sign and when you see it, follow it."

"That's it?" Darold asked, disbelief, "If I had a known that, I wouldn't have been here, would I?"

"Don't get your panties in a twist, calm down. I know you're upset, but trust me, she'll give you a sign, or I could be a little romantic… follow your heart, and in the end, you'll find her."

Darold stick out his tongue, "Bleh," He paused, "I don't think following my heart would lead me to her."

"Sh. Close your eyes."

"Why?"

"Just do it."

"Ok."

Avatar Fedyn exhaled before placing his right palm against Darold's forehead, "Think of her. Remember what she looks like, what she smells like in the morning, remember her charming smile." He paused, allowing Darold to picture Iona, "Do you see her?"

Darold's eyebrows folded against his eyes, concreting. Older images of Iona as a child ran through his mind until he remember seeing her the night before the Fire Fountain City had been attacked, "Yes, I do."

"Now, let your heart pour out. If you really care about her, let your heart lead you to where she is…"

Within seconds, Darold noticed that Fedyn had disappeared as his spirit floated around the island, seeing nothing but water and a trail of smoke in the air. His chocolate eyes glanced up, following the travel and before he knew it, he saw Iona being chained up, fighting for her life. A smile grew on his face, "She's alive!"

Within seconds, he awoke in his body, finding the odd odor mixed with the morning smell. He jumped onto his feet, "Kierce, I know where she is!"

Kierce turned around quickly, returning to the Avatar, "Where?"

"They took her to the sea. We better grab a boat and start sailing."

* * *

><p>Kierce and Darold actually couldn't find a boat. They had searched for a good ten minutes and couldn't find a single thing. All the boats were destroyed during the attack last night. Darold knew he would have to improvise, but how? His chocolate orbs gazed around along the half destroyed buildings, seeing long white sheets. A smile grew on his face as Darold took it down, "Hey Darold—what are you doing? Hey wait for me!" Kierce called out, running after the Avatar, who ran off with the white sheet. The chase was on as the ran towards the Cliffside, both out of breath, Kierce spoke up, "Yo-y-you can tell me the plan any day now…"<p>

"I am going to jump."

"What?" Kierce was surprised, "You've got to me kidding me."

Darold turned back to his friend, "I'm serious. It's the only way we can survive the fall and be close to Iona."

"Are you crazy?" Kierce shouted, concern for the Avatar, "How are you supposed to avoid everything that's at the bottom?"

Flames burst in the distances, giving a sign to both Kierce and Darold, their jaws dropped as the flames struck the air and faded away. It happened four times between three seconds, another flare rose in the sky. Darold smiled, "That's the sign." Walking back, away from the edge and past Kierce, who stood least three yards away. "I am going after Iona no matter what. Like you said, she has been there for me. Now I've gotta be there for her."

"But, like this-? Hey, Darold!" Kierce tried to stop him, but the Avatar took off running towards the end of the cliff, sprinting as fast as he could. At the edge, he pressed off, throwing the long cloth in the air, and thanks to the morning breeze, it puffed up, allowing the boy to glide down. "Wow…" Kierce awed as he watch the Avatar use the bottom of his feet as rockets, letting fire escape from the bottom of his shoes and boost him up in the air once more.

* * *

><p><em>Why am I always tied up?<em> Iona thought as she could feel the rusty silver chains chaffing her hands and feet. Once she threw up the signals to draw Darold in, they had tied her up in the middle of the deck and waited for him. This time, she had become blindfold with a red silk, wrapped around her eyes. There was no way she could help Darold nor Kierce. They were on their own. _Great, just great, can't someone just kidnap Darold so I can rescue him? I mean, I'm getting tired of this dance._

The sun began to leak through her blinds, it must have been least eight to even peek through her blinds. She attempted to sigh, but she remembered she had something in her mouth. What was it? It was some ragged cloths. Iona had tried over and over again, pushing it out, but it wasn't the same without hands.

From the distances, she could hear the waves crashing against the boat, rocking it side to side, but something was odd about it. There was someone in the distances, grasping for oxygen. _Crap,_ those were her first thoughts, _Darold's here. That stupid stupid boy! I thought I taught him that code._ She rolled her eyes under her blindfold.

"Iona!" He shouted as a whisper as his feet slammed against the wood as the Avatar rushed over beside her. His shadow blocked the sun, "Oh Iona, what happened to you? Are you alright? What's wrong with your neck?" As he untied the blindfold from her eyes and helped her take out the cloths in her mouth.

"Stupid," She hissed between her teeth, rolling her tongue out a bit before speaking, "Do you not remember playing spies? I was sending you a message, don't you remember why four to five fires shot in the sky?" Iona paused as she leaned in, "It's a trap."

The crew jumped out, swords and Kingdom gloves on their hands as uncomfortable chuckles surrounded them. "Oh." Darold whispered, "That makes total sense why you uhhh… are tied up in the middle of the boat."

"Well well well, isn't our friend, the Avatar." Chelsa revealed herself from the group of men with a sinister grin against her face, "I see you had to come and rescue your friend." Her eyes turned to Iona but dragged back to Darold, "It seems we have a softie, men."

"I'm not a softie." Darold uttered to himself.

Laughter still rung through their ears, "You have only three choices, one, surrender and we'll let your friend go. Two, you can run away and we can keep her. Three, my favorite, we can just fight to the death. Just you and me, what do you say?"

Darold didn't really think about it, but one glance at Iona, she just rolled her eyes, scoffing. "You've got to me kidding me." Iona whispered.

"I have too." Darold whispered back at Iona, placing his palms against her cheeks, "It's time I paid back for everything you've done to protect me. I am sorry it had to end like this."

Iona stared at her wet Avatar, his hair flat against his skin, his clothing damped and sticking to his skin as his tattoos seemed to still be intake. "Well?" Chelsa asked, "I don't have all morning to wait for this scene to end."

Darold turned his head, dropping his arms down to his side, "I have decided." His chocolate eyes gazed back into Iona's green eyes and just smiled before he stared at Chelsa. "I will fight you, Chelsa."

"Idiot!" Iona uttered, shaking her head.

The whole crew laughed at Darold decision, holding onto their stomachs, even Chelsa was dying in laughter. "What? What's so funny?"

Wiping the tears away from Chelsa's face, she smiled, "I never said we'd fight. We, I said you and me fight, but pirates are lies." Darold and the crew agreed by nodding their heads and muttering to their friends. "I can't fight you."

"Why not?"

"Because I am not the captain of this ship," Chelsa smirked as she walked close to a small golden bell, "He is." She began to ring it three times, slowly. The crew became silent and even cowardly hid among each other. Iona did her best to see who or what was coming, but she couldn't really move in the chains.

"Darold, get me out of these things. You know that you can't fight without me." Iona uttered, "Please, I am telling you, you don't know what you're up against."

"I'm tired of you protecting me and you always end up getting into trouble. Forget it, I am going to protect you." Darold responded.

"Oh, I hate you."

**AN:** Sorry it took so long to post up, I have been so busy. :C I somewhat like this chapter with the whole crew going around, getting drunk. This idea was inspired by my two friends, Nick and Ariel. Thanks to them, I have kept writing for this FF. I think the only reason why I ended it like I did was because I couldn't come up with a bad guy. :C I'm thinking really hard, but I couldn't come up with one. I'll debate it on my off time. Also, I did not copy this idea from the Hangover. I haven't really seen it, so I didn't really copy it. Lol. Well, please review and I hope you enjoy reading it! Thanks again.


	5. Chapter 5: Lost at Sea

Chapter Five: Lost at Sea

Far off in the distance on the island, Kierce had traveled to another town. The town barely had anyone walking; they must have all been working. Kierce glanced around, seeing a pier with only several yards away. Finally, he could help his new friends, and then what? He had a simple mission; befriend the group and take down the Avatar. That was simple enough, however, every time he walked with them, new danger attacked them, causing this big web of adventure and action spur out of his body. He couldn't kill the Avatar, not just yet. He needed Iona to trust him, and he knew that would be tricky. His light blue eyes gazed around as he step foot in the uneven pier, seeing several missing wood and nails along the way. "Jeez, least they could do is fix this." He uttered between his teeth as he glanced over at the boats. All of the boats were tiny, but sharp with the tides. He could be at the Pirate boat less than twenty minutes. With an exciting grin swept across his face, he jumped into the boat.

However, a familiar cry rung through his ears as he gazed up to the morning sky. A beautiful dark brown hawk appeared, in search of its master, with a Fire Nation symbol on it's chest. Kierce waved it down, seeing the hawk taking a dive through the air and landing on Kierce's open arm. The beautiful hawk snuggled against its masters face, "Aw, I miss you too, Zas." He strokes the bird with his free hand. What a touchy reunion. "What do you have for me this time?" Kierce moved the bird over slightly as it revealed a small gray cylinder against its back. Kierce used his free hand to open the lid and dip his hand into the tube. He pulled out a crumply piece of tan paper. He replaced the lid on the tube and let Zas hang on his shoulder as he began to read the letter. His lips read the words off of the page as his eyes seemed to widen with each word. "…You've got to me kidding me. I can't do this too. There's no way that-" A loud gunfire echoed against the shores, catching Kierce attention towards the open water. "Oh no—I've gotta go." At the bottom of the paper was a small pencil, and Kierce scribbled something on the piece of tan paper before rerolling it up and slipping it back into Zas' tube. He sent the hawk off flying in the distances and return to his plot of stealing a boat.

* * *

><p>Gunfire was shot several times in midair, causing everyone around them to blink often. Their eyes were all awaiting to see who had stepped out of the captain's den. Questions began to fill every pirate's mind to the Avatar and Iona. "Did I tell you I hate you?" Iona repeated, waiting for the smoke to clear up as she stood there, arms and legs still chained up.<p>

"Nothing you say will make me change my mind." Darold said with a hint of some seriousness in him. It was unusual for him to be bold, but, something got him worked up to become a hero today.

"Har har har!" An unpleasant voice echoed through the Pirate Ship, revealing something disturbing. It was a slightly larger man wearing women clothing. Let me repeat, he was wearing tight black pants stuffed under his long light brown knee height boots. He had three different belts against his waist with one sword and two gun holders, and had almost a red tube top against his bare chest. His face was dipped in make-up, causing him to be slightly paler. His arms were filled with dangling bracelets and several colorful golden rings. Around his neck lied several different necklaces along with a scar going across his chest up to his left side of the neck. "Looky here, we have some stubborn children that do not wish to be sold nor traded in? What a pity, now you must both suffer the wrath of Meg!"

The pirate crew held their tummies, some fell against the rusty wooden floor, and others held onto their friend's shoulder. It was sweet laughter though, even Iona softly chimed in. Who would have thought that the captain would be confused which gender it was. The crew began to talk out loud, discussing the situation at hand.

"You've got to be kidding me!"

"I can't believe we've been working for a he-she."

"I am completely ashamed."

"I think it's time to go."

The crew had come to an agreement, it was time to go. They would rather fight for someone who was a male, not a he-she, or whatever they wore. "Wait—hey stop!" Wrath of Meg spoke out-loud, however, no one seemed to listen to the man. The crew went off, still laughing, they started to untie the boats along the side, some gathered powdered and food, and two nice men helped Iona out of the chains. "I order you to stop and respect me!"

Within the next two minutes, the crew began to row away on their small rowboats with ten men in each one. Silences return to the ship, allowing enough time for Iona to slap Darold across the face, "Next time, you'll listen to me."

"Was that really necessary?" Darold held his cheek, his lips creased downward, "It really hurt."

"Yes," Iona responded before she folded her arms over her chest, "Now, suck it up. We're not finished here."

"Why did they just leave? Do they not like me? I knew it! They didn't like me!" Iona shifted her way, turning towards the voice of Wrath of Meg, who began to weep. "Chelsa, why did they all leave me?"

Chelsa rolled her eyeballs, "Because you came out looking like that. No one wants a captain who looks-like that."

"But sis," Wrath of Meg glanced up, his make-up was completely smeared, his nose and eyes still watering down his face, "this is who I am."

"I know. I know." Chelsa sighed before looking back at the Avatar and Iona, bowing in respect, "I am sorry for the confusion. You may take your girlfriend and this boat. We are sorry for attacking you guys and that poor village. Please, leave us in peace."

"Girlfriend?" Darold was puzzled as he stared at the messy girl named Chelsa, "I don't understand…"

"I thought you two were together… you kissed last night. Don't you remember that?"

Darold turned to Iona, jaw dropped, face inflamed with redness, "Is that true?"

Iona's face became as red as Darold's face, but only could look away. She couldn't tell him what happened last night, not like this. She needed an escape, "Didn't you're men take all of your boats?" She asked Chelsa, glancing up at her.

Chelsa leaned over the side of the ship, "Yup. I guess we're all stuck."

"When were you gonna tell me that we kissed last night?" Darold was still stuck, like a broken record.

"Can we not talk about it now? We have important things to worry about, like getting off and finding Kierce." Iona responded quickly before walking away from Darold, going over to the other side of the boat.

It didn't matter how far away she walked, Darold followed her, "No, I can't. You know I can't, I need to know what happened last night, you must know."

"It's none of your business what happened last night, get over it."

Darold scoff before he looked at Iona, "I can't believe this, you can't be honest me with, not even for one second can you? You can't tell me what happened last night?"

"Do you wanna know?" Iona snapped, her green orbs locking into Darold's chocolate eyes.

"Yes."

Iona had explained from the beginning, after Darold and Kierce left her alone. She explained she went looking for them and ran into some awful men who followed her. "I didn't know it was you. I was just trying to get away and then… it happened." Her face was glowing light pink as she pressed her arm against the side of the boat, "I am sorry. I didn't want to tell you because I value our friendship."

Darold did the same thing as Iona, he leaned his arms against the side of the ship, his eyes glancing down at the water, his face was flushed in a slightly pink color, "I understand." He exhales the air sealed in his body, "Then I guess I better tell you this before this moment is over." Iona gazed up at Darold, baffled by his words, but she didn't stop him, not one bit. "Iona, there is something I've been needing to tell you. I can't believe it took me so long to say these words, but I—"

"Hey guys!" A familiar voice caused both of them to look up at the boat coming in with a childish smile on Kierce's face. "I found you guys!"

* * *

><p>Wrath of Meg and his sister, Chelsa, took Kierce's boat and decided to go home since they both failed at being pirates, they gave Darold the boat, hoping it would be easier for them to reach the South Pole.<p>

Darold became Captain of the Wrath of Death's ship, sailing toward the South Pole. Kierce and Iona hung around the deck, talking softly to each other. Iona was now back in her regular clothes, however, she couldn't wear her Fire Nation necklace for it had slashed off by Chelsa's attack. Iona only had the bandage cloth around her neck. "Did you ever find your Aunt?"

"Hm?" Kierce asked, his eyebrows narrowed against his eyes, "My Aunt?" The scarred boy thought about it before remembering, "Oh yes. My Aunt… I'm afraid not. Her house was buried to the ground but some of the neighbor's said she had moved to the Crescent Island."

"Crescent Island, I thought it was uninhabited."

Kierce knew that lying wasn't going to solve anything, even if he kept feeding Iona the lies, she'd figure it out. From what he could tell, she would have figured out who he was. "I think you've had your turn of sailing her. Why don't you like Iona steer her?" He asked the Avatar.

* * *

><p>Every two hours, they took turns sailing the ship, exploring, and do whatever else pirates needed to do. By the time they slowly begin to past Ember Island, night had fallen over the group. Soft candles were lit by the upper deck and lower deck, allowing the group to still see where they were going. Iona was sailing the ship, her eyes set ahead as the boys began to speak on the lower deck.<p>

"Can I ask you a question?" Kierce asked Darold, pulling him aside to left side of the ship.

"Sure, hit me!"

Kierce hit the Avatar's shoulder with his fist, hearing a loud cry of pain escaping from the Avatar's lips, "Sorry, you said it." Kierce smiled before his eyes drifted off into the soothing sea. The stars sparkled even without the moon and the distance island was softly lit as a celebration went forth. "I know this is a silly question," He paused, gathering his thoughts before his tone dropped into a serious one, "Are you and Iona… you know, dating?"

Darold's jaw opened up, his eyes screaming in disbelief, "What? Are you kidding me?" Darold's voice echoed with the tides. Kierce placed a finger on his lips, and Darold respond in a soft whisper, "Why would I date her? We've been friends ever since we were little. It's like dating my sister or something." Disgusted with that thought, Darold stuck out his tongue before continuing to think about Iona. "…It just would be weird." His face hid the faint flush of pink on his cheeks before his eyes drifted away, toward Ember Island.

"Oh good," Kierce sighed in relief, his hand placed against his chest, "I was afraid I was stepping on some kind of boundary or something, because… you know, she's always distant with me and she's always… Do you think I should ask her out?" The question seemed to make Darold think, what could he say or do.

He knew he needed to say something to throw Kierce off track. Yeah, but what? There was so much to say but the words wouldn't form, he kept trying until a lie popped into his head, "I'm not sure that's a good idea." He needed to lie for the first lie, "She likes guys that are hard to get, and you make it easy for her push you aside. I mean, I see how you hit on her all the time, and she moves along. Slow guys, like turtle slow. Oh oh, you also have to be a hero. She loves heroes, and being saved. Girls go for that all the time." Darold nervously smiled at the end as his thoughts began to run rapidly, _What the heck am I doing? I don't know why I'm giving useless advice to Kierce. I don't like Iona, why would I? I don't understand why I'm helping him. He's doing fine without me._

Kierce smiled, "Thanks for the advice, Darold." His hand patted Darold's other shoulder, "I should have her in my arms in no time." He paused, "Is it ok with you that we date and stuff?"

"No no. It doesn't bother me! Why would it? It's fine, if I complete all four elements, you can marry her!"

"Wow… me and Iona married? That's… That would be awesome."

Darold was about to say something, however the ship jerked them forward, causing the boys to lose their balance, gripping at anything to keep them from falling overboard. The ship stopped in the middle of the sea and Iona spoke out to them, "I guess I hit some rocks. Sorry guys."

A soft yellow glow came from within the water that danced beside the boat. Both of the boys noticed the light hitting the ship and glanced over, seeing nothing bout water and a faint melody. It was sweet and memorable, like a song would sing to a child. A hand slowly stretched out from the water, a light blue hand, long inch or two fingernails as the melody increased in sound. A beautiful face pressed its face to the surface before ripples of water dripped down her face. The voice came from within her voice box as she kept singing out with her hand stretched outward. Her long wavy dark blue hair covered her shoulders and the rest of it was still stuck underwater.

"_In days of old, when ships were bold, just like the men who sailed them."_ The mysterious creature song out, a familiar pirate song. Jolly Roger, if Iona wasn't wrong, and Darold slowly leaned down at her, seeing her yellow eyes gazing into his own.

"You're very pretty." Darold commented.

"Oh no," Iona whispered, realizing what it was, "pull him away it's a-"

"Mermaid." Kierce finished as he started to pull Darold away from the mermaid. Their hands had brushed each other before Kierce threw Darold against the ground. "I'm sorry dude that was for your own good."

"Ow. You didn't have to do that."

Iona bolted down beside him, "Watch the mermaid! Don't take your eyes off of it, it's not just a mermaid it's-" The ship shuttered again, shaking everything on the boat, making them either fall to the ground or do a drunken dance. The soft glow that was beneath the mermaid had grew underneath their whole ship, blinding the group's sight. Once the light faded, Iona finished her sentence, "It's a Jiaolong." All of their eyes glanced up at the new beast in front of them, jaws opened to find no longer a mermaid, but an aquatic dragon.

"What's that?" Darold asked.

"It's-"

"It's a water dragon with shape shifting abilities. It can change into anything water like, I believe. For example, a mermaid, a dragon, a serpent, etc, they aren't friendly creatures." Kierce completed Iona's words, and for once Iona was surprised by Kierce's knowledge of the Jiaolong.

"How do you know so much about it?" Iona asked him.

"I read, I'm not complete stupid."

"When did we learn this?" Darold asked, still baffled by the creature in front of them.

"Don't you remember learning this in school… that's right, you were distracted if you could shoot spitballs as the teacher from your seat." Iona sighed.

Jiaolong; a mysterious creature that can shape shift into several different forms, the form it's in now, the aquatic dragon, is break taking. Its body was tangled beneath the boat as its shinny light blue scales didn't need the shimmering light of the moon to glow. Her twelve feet wings folded beside her body as her yellow cat-like eyes pierced the hearts of the group below. She snarled before speaking, _"Give me back what is mine."_

"What?" Iona uttered beneath her breath.

"_You humans are all the same. Give me back my treasure you have stolen from me." _The dragon, Jiaolong, hissed through its sharp teeth before its eyes glowed brightly.

With a quick flash of light blinding the group, the Jiaolong had disappeared, leaving the waters undisturbed. Iona didn't like this, not one bit. The roll of the thick black thunder clouds screamed with flashes of light, flickering through the clouds. "Oh no… This is bad, very bad." Iona uttered before running over to the other side of the ship, seeing nothing.

Kierce nodded his head in agreement, "Those stupid pirates! They must have found Jiaolong's treasure, kept it from themselves and did burn down half of her town." Kierce slapped his left palm into his forehead, "She thinks we're the pirates because… after all this is their ship. That only leaves us one option."

Darold glanced away from Iona, who seemed to scanning for something, and looked over at Kierce, "What's that?"

"Abandon ship."

"No! We can't do that!" Iona shouted at her group, her eyes filled with fear as thunder echoed through the sky. "I won't let that happened. We will stay and fight her."

Flashes of lightning struck the sea around them, causing Darold to jump. Kierce took a few steps forward, still only a few yards away from Iona, "You know she'll do everything she can to sink this ship. We'll have to swim to Ember Island."

"No. I won't let you."

"We don't really have a choice, now do we?" Kierce was done being nice, his serious voice rung through high seas, "Do you want to live, then you're coming with us!"

"I said-" Iona couldn't finished with the ship began to shake side to side. She grabbed the side as Kierce attempted to hold his balance. The group could hear loud rips throughout the ship, hearing the wood being broke apart. "She-she's sinking us. You can go, I-I-I'll stay."

"Don't be silly, we're all in this together, remember?" Kierce tried to comfort her; however, the girl shook her head.

"Please don't make me go. I can't go."

"Why not?"

"Ahhh!" Darold screamed like a little girl, making both Kierce and Iona turn their heads and eyes at the creature—er—creatures in front of them. The Jiaolong was no longer a dragon. She was two serpents, her hideous teeth hung over her lips, her piercing yellow eyes larger as the rest of her body seemed smooth and slick. She was still light and dark blue, and still creepy looking.

"I don't have time for this, do you trust me, Iona?" Kierce shouted, expanding his hand outward.

"W-what?" Iona was stunned. The thought of swimming still twisted her stomach and dying on the ship wasn't a bold move either. "You don't understand—I can't. I won't."

"Why not? You can tell me." Kierce glanced back at her, and then at Darold, "Go on without us."

"No, I won't!" Darold shouted, then glanced back at the two serpents in front of him, "Well…" His chocolate eyes glanced back at the group, holding an uncomfortable frown on his face.

"I can't swim!" Iona shouted out, "Ok? Are you happy now? I never was good at it, in fact, I'm afraid I'll drown-" Rain began to pour violently down at the ship, Kierce could see Iona in front of him, expect for her beautiful eyes.

"I won't let that happened." Kierce promised, "I swear it on my life."

Right before Iona was about to place her hand in his, the serpents had broken the rest of the ship, cutting a bit crack in the middle of Kierce and Iona. She tried to grab his hand before she fell into the water. Kierce screamed out as Iona's scream faded away.

"Iona!" Darold screamed out, coming towards the titled boat, least that was still left. The Avatar looked at Kierce, seeing him taking off his belt, "What are you doing?"

"I gave her my word, I'm not gonna let her drown, you idiot." Those were the last words Kierce said before diving into the deep water, in search of Iona and fend off the Jiaolong that swarm around them.

* * *

><p><em>This can't be in the end. Can it?<em> Iona thought in the pitch black water as she stretched her arms up, grabbing onto something, however nothing. Her green eyes were closed shut, afraid to see what lied under water. Several bubbles escaped her nose, _I'm running out of air. I don't know how much longer I have left to live. This might be the last time to say these words… Darold I…_

Something slimy bumped her back, forcing her to exhale more of her oxygen in her lungs. Iona body started to feel empty from lack of oxygen, but she was going to die somehow. By drowning or by the Jiaolong, the Jiaolong didn't seem that bad right now. It was better than drowning.

"_Open your eyes," _A gentle voice whispered in her ear, bringing more chills up her spine. Who was it? If only Iona could open her eyes, but she figured it out. It was Jiaolong, talking to her somehow. _"If you don't, you'll never get over this fear and the future ahead of you." _What did that mean? Iona knew better than to listen to the voice inside of her head, _"What? You think I am going to eat you? I am helping you child," _she paused before she pressed her dragon body against Iona back, feeding her some oxygen, _"trust me. Your friend can't see you if you don't open your eyes, but remember, don't believe everything the earth-man says."_

_What?_ She asked herself before feeling the oxygen restored in her lungs, still softly exhaling it. Nothing seemed to make sense anymore. _I guess these are my last moments, I'll open my eyes._ Slowly, she opened her green orbs, seeing Kierce just slightly above her. The water seemed to sting her eyes, but she stretched her arms forward, feeling Kierce grabbing them and pulling her up. The swim upward seemed to go on, making the last bit of air count. The surface was only inches away from their faces before Iona seemed to close her eyes as Kierce dragged her upward.

Grasping for air, Kierce pulled Iona upward, forcing her to inhale the bitter sweet sea air. "Breathe." He whispered, "Breathe, Iona." As he watched her head tiled back into the water, nothing seemed to respond. He was still least three miles out from the shore, there was no way he could save her. "Please, please, please, wake up." Still nothing, Kierce held the body close to him, wrapping his arms around her waist. The boy was on the verge of tears when he heard several painful coughs from the girl in front of him. Water flew out of her mouth, but her green eyes seemed to dazzle the night around her as she gasp for the air. "Iona!" Those words never felt better to say as he held her in the amidst of night.

"It's nice to see you too, Kierce." She patted him on the back, still out of breath, she finished up, "Can you please take me to shore? I don't know… how much longer I can hold up like this."

The swim wasn't hard at all, after all, Iona was holding onto Kierce back as he pressed through the water, it seemed weird, but half way through, Iona could touch the floor of the sea even though they were a good twenty minutes out. She let go of Kierce, but the boy took ahold of her hand, "I don't wanna lose you." He utter before pulling her along. It was strange really, but by the time they had gotten to shore, Darold had got out and grabbed some of the towns people, told them what happened and they seemed to take Iona and Kierce's body to Odo's summerhouse up on the hill.

* * *

><p>By the time Iona awoke from her sleep, it was midday. Alone, wrapped up in a few blankets as her body land on the floor, Iona slowly pushed them up and off. It was weird, just the day before, her life seemed in danger, and now she was alive, thanks to Kierce. The girl knew she needed to thank him, but she knew if she said, 'I'll do anything' meant trouble. She'd be keen with her words, once she saw him.<p>

Wearing royal red silky pajamas, the sleeves dragged two inches from her fingertips and the pants seemed to do the same. Whoever attempted to clothe her last night didn't do too hot, but they were nice enough to brush out her hair and laid it out to dry. Pushing through the slide down, only a few feet from the living room sat Kierce. His had on the same bottoms as she did, expect, he didn't have a shirt on. It was unusual for Iona to see someone without a shirt and her face became flustered.

Kierce turned his head, lifting a smile to his face, "Good, you're awake."

"Yeah, I didn't mean to sleep in… Can you put on a shirt?"

Kierce chuckled as he listened to his chocolate goddess, slipping on a black tank top that she had never seen before. It was faded and yet, it was nice to see something different, rather than royal clothing. "Anything for you," Kierce spoke, before standing up, bowing before her, "My Goddess, how did you sleep?" Raising his body back up, he met half way up with Iona.

"Kierce," Just saying his name seemed difficult now, why? She had no trouble before, now it seems like they were becoming more than acquiesces. "Why did you save me yesterday? I knew, Darold wouldn't, he never would have saved me…but you? I just don't understand why." Iona softly spoke, afraid of waking Darold.

"Look, Darold would have saved you, but—" Kierce became speechless, lost in Iona's gorgeous green eyes. The only thing he did was pick up her hands, placing them in his, holding them. Her hands were cold against his toasty hands. He sighed, "I promised you, that I wouldn't let you drown. Do you not remember?"

Iona glanced down at their hands, feeling something in her gut, but didn't know what to think of it, to describe it. Her face became pinker, and her heart started pounding faster. "I can't really remember much just that Darold… I don't know what to say, but thank you for saving me." Those words finally came out.

"It's all good. I know you would do the same thing, but Darold? I don't think he has the guts to do it, well, he did save you from the pirates." Kierce defended somewhat of Darold.

"No. He didn't. It was dumb luck that the captain was a he-she." Iona rolled her eyes before she locked eyes with Kierce, "…Do you wanna…do something to celebrate our survival?"

"Do you mean go on a date?" Kierce questioned with a curious smile on his face.

"What? No no. That would be silly, let's just go and do something."

"Sounds like a plan." Kierce winked before he slipped his hands from Iona, leaving her hands cold once more. The dark chocolate girl sighed as she watched Kierce return to his room and Iona did the same, getting ready for the day.

From the corner of the living room, Darold's door had been softly cracked open, the poor Avatar feeling hatred towards both of them for thinking he was weak. That he couldn't save Iona, twice. Guilt for not saving her at all, and felt like a loser, he has never felt like this, ever. Not through school or home, yet, now here it is, bitter sweet against his tongue. "…I'll show you." Anger swell in his heart as his chocolate eyes glanced forward, and now, he'd make Kierce personally pay for stealing his best friend, his sister, the attention, and the feelings he had for Iona. He would pay indeed, but how? That was the serious question, how could he make Kierce pay?

* * *

><p><strong>AN: <strong>Again, I am sorry for taking so long to write. I haven't been able to focus writing or grasp ideas from my friends until three days ago. Thanks to Matina and Ariel, I am able to finish this chapter. It's a big twist and hopefully, the next chapter will be better, much longer, and much more depth into details. I was trying to finish this chapter before I go off to camp. Here it is, I hope you enjoy it. Please let me know what you think about it by reviewing it (it will mean a lot to me) or messaging me. Thank you!


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